The Little Merman
by Ki-chanForPresident
Summary: Young Prince Sora is fifteen years old, and his life as a merman is very boring. But one thing he loves is humans, and he wonders what their world is like. He sees a human man named Prince Riku and Sora is instantly in love. Can he live with Riku somehow?
1. Chapter I

A/n: Hello all, and I bet you're wondering what this is, eh? Well, it is based off of the story "The Little Mermaid" except it's done with Kingdom Hearts characters. It's sort of taken from the Disney version, but trust me, I'm gonna try and make this my own as much as possible, so don't be cruel! Because it's not supposed to be exactly like "Disney's The Little Mermaid", mmkay? So enjoy! I appreciate reviews!****

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This day was like any other day- sunny, comfortable, and completely relaxing. Not only was this day like any other day, but this ocean was just like any other ocean, of how the waters were the rich color of dark cerulean, waves splashing together and creating a foamy whiteness that sprayed out into the air to create a thick, salty breeze. Everyone knows how seas are; they're majestic, massive, and a pleasure to just stare at. And how comfortable you can just be to simply watch the seagulls fly high above the deep waters, the little white bodies shimmering in front of a dark, foggy blue sky above the deep sea.

Porpoises leaped out of the water, the droplets of the sea water sparkling along with their great jumps as they landed gracefully back into the ocean, their heads poking back up to look at one another as they played along with one another in the vast sea. They were like any other porpoises, of course, feeling blissful in the water at this lovely time of day. They could feel the vibrations of something coming nearby, something very large, it seemed, and before they even knew it, an enormous ship appeared out of the fog, waves splashing hard up against the side of the huge ship.

Furthermore, this ship was like any other ship, and on this ship were sailors, and these sailors were, of course, like any other sailors. They were merry, proud, and full of peace as they sailed their giant ship on the sea. They also did their jobs like any old sailors, tightening ropes attached and connected to the deep white sails that billowed out against the wind, sending the ship moving at a steady pace forward, cleaning the enormous wooden deck with their mops to make it as shiny and brisk looking as possible. They retrieved massive fishing nets out of the sea, filled with fresh and plump looking little pink-colored fish and quickly packing the fish later for when they returned to their port.

However, this ship wasn't _just_ a fishing ship, and it wasn't just a ship for sailors who had a deep love for the sea, to just watch and enjoy the beautiful sight before them. It belonged to no other than a prince- but this prince wasn't like any other princes, keeping his stay inside his magnificent palace and having his every single whim granted and any little thing he wanted brought to him that instant.

His name was Prince Riku, and the only thing he desired that day was to just go out onto the sea with the sailors and to just relax and enjoy the day, nothing more or nothing less. His brilliant turquoise eyes were fixated on the splashing ocean, half-lidded and peaceful, not a worry in his mind. His long silvery hair blew behind him in the salty sea air as he leaned forward on the thick railing of the side of the ship, resting his cheeks in the palms of his hands.

"Oh...this is great," he sighed contently, glancing up toward the sky and watching the seagulls fly by. They cawed happily, knowing that there were fresh, delectable fish below just asking to be eaten and be very satisfied afterwards.

Riku stood up slowly, pushing a slender hand through his silvery strands, turning when he heard a bark. A thin and pretty looking Border collie woofed happily up at Riku, trotting her cheery way over to the prince with her tongue hanging out. Riku smiled, leaning down to stroke her head, the black and white dog hopping up and down on her back legs before throwing both of her front feet over the side of the ship to get a good look at whatever Riku was staring at.

"Don't you agree, Maxine?" Riku chuckled, earning a perky sounding bark in return. "How the salty sea air blows in your face? Just a _perfect_ day to be out on the sea..." Riku smiled wider, hearing the sound of what, unfortunately, sounded like somebody gagging loudly and tossing something over the side of the boat.

The silver-haired prince turned to look over at the thin person hanging over the side of the ship, cocking his mouth in mild disgust and slight sympathy for the man over the side of the ship. He turned and looked up at Riku, his face a deep green and green eyes that were just as equal to how green his face was.

"Delightful, Riku... Just delight--" He clapped a hand over his mouth once more before turning back over to the side of the ship and coughing up whatever was inside his stomach.

"A fine strong wind!" exclaimed an old sailor nearby, pulling on a long rope to tighten the sails, Riku hurrying to his aid to help the old sailor. "_And_ a following sea! King Xemnas must be in a friendly-type mood."

Riku stood straight back up, blinking curiously and questioningly innocently, "King Xemnas?" He glanced around at the other sailors who stifled a few snorts and laughs. "Who's King Xemnas?"

"Why, ruler of the merpeople, my prince," came another sailor, this one rather greasy looking as he pulled two fish out of the massive fishing net. "I thought every good sailor should know about _him._"

Riku merely smirked at the word 'merpeople', knowing that it was nothing more than a myth for half-person half-fish to live in the deep fathoms below. The prince crossed his arms when he heard the man that was coughing up his lungs scoffed from nearby.

"Poppycock..." he grumbled, tightening his little blond ponytail and then fixing his tie. "What nautical nonsense, Riku... Pay no attention to these sailors; they're just trying to scare you."

"Scare me, eh Vexen?" Riku chuckled.

"You callin' me a liar?" came the greasy sailor from before, stomping over to Vexen with a wriggling fish in his hand. "Merpeople are very much real, and they live down there, they do!" The sailor proclaimed, accidentally losing the slippery fish in his hand which proceeded to whack it's tail against Vexen's face and fly out into the water with a splash.

Even if Riku's guardian, Vexen, was thinking that merpeople didn't exist - and Riku thought so, too - then all of those old sailors would be telling the real truth, indeed. For the creatures that lived in this ocean weren't like any other creatures...

Sure, it was filled with exotic, colorful looking fish, whales, and pretty plants of all colors of the rainbow, but it had something that was far more different than just any fish. This ocean truly had what the sailors had said before. Merpeople.

The merpeople were half-human half-fish, and, ironically, their human upper bodies were far more glorious and extravagant than any human on land. Almost every single merperson had long hair of some amazing color, but not every single one- some had short hair that was in an interesting style or shape but still had an enchanting color of hair.

All of the merpeople seemed to be going in one certain direction, moving their fins quickly back and forth through the cool water and towards something emitting a fantastic glow nearby. Following the merpeople were many assortments of pretty fish and porpoises, crabs, lobsters, and some seahorses. They were all swimming towards a great, undersea palace, glowing magnificently as the sound of an orchestra warming up bellowed from within the grand palace.

Inside, there were many more merpeople, along with the undersea life, all situated in the huge concert hall, comfortable and awaiting for the show to start.

This night was supposed to be one of the grandest shows ever to be put on, where no other than King Xemnas, ruler of the merpeople's lovely children would sing gloriously to the audience. The merpeople were talking amongst themselves when they suddenly quieted down when the sound of a deep drum sounded and a large line of swordfish appeared at the front of the stage, followed by a young boy, his tail in shape of a curly, little orange seahorse tail.

He smiled brightly and held his hands behind his slender form, clearing his throat a little bit harshly which caused a little strand of dark blond hair to fall out of his mullet-styled hair, the boy pausing to push the strand back into his hair.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he spoke politely. "My name is Captain Demyx, and the king's royal army, and myself, are honored to present tonight's show, featuring only King Xemnas's daughters and his only son."

The audience proceeded to clap and cheer, anxious to hear Xemnas's children sing, for the youngest child of Xemnas, his son, had the most beautiful voice out of all of Xemnas's children. They were awaiting the fantastic performance to begin quite anxiously.

"And now, I present to you," said Demyx with a smile, "his royal highness, King Xemnas!"

The curtains on the stage pulled open, two enormous porpoises swam quickly out from behind the curtains, pulling a shining, golden chariot and in the chariot was a powerful and godly looking man, his long, long silvery hair spiraling down behind him while his dark orange eyes stared down at the audience, all of the merpeople clapping and cheering loudly as their king came into their sight.

With a proud, small smile, Xemnas slowly lifted his strong looking arm, where then a sharp light appeared in the palm of his hand and immediately, a large, glowing, golden trident. He slid his hand slowly down the long golden handle, pointing it straight to the giant chandelier that was high above the stage and the audience, another sharp golden ray shooting out of the end of the trident and striking the chandelier like a lightning bolt, lighting up the sparkling chandelier and filling the entire concert hall with even more glorious light.

The curtains had closed once more, careful to not show what was beyond the dark curtains. Demyx smiled politely to his king and cleared his throat again.

"And now, presenting, King Xemnas's royal advisor, and the distinguished court composer of tonight's performance, Sir Axel!"

The curtains pulled back again and there came another loud applause, more from what sounded like the mermaids in the audience as another chariot pulled by two terrified looking porpoises emerged out from behind the curtain, where in the chariot was a red-haired young merman, holding onto the reins of the porpoises in front of him with both of his hands and smiling widely to the audience as they applauded for him. Of course, just for Axel's luck, the porpoises gave a tug forward causing Axel to fall slightly forward on his not-as-shiny chariot and try and regain control of the porpoises.

Once the two large porpoises had calmed down, Axel gave a rough sounding sigh and pushed a hand through his mass of spiky red hair and swiftly caught up to Xemnas, placing his pearly-white smile back on his face for his king.

"Axel," said Xemnas to the redhead next to him, "I'm _really_ looking forward to this performance."

Axel smirked and beamed proudly, noting to give himself a big pat on the back for later on.

"Your Majesty," he smiled, "this will be the finest concert _I_ have ever conducted. I swear to you, my king, your daughters and your son will be spectacular!"

Both Xemnas and Axel came to a stop at a large podium up high, just for Xemnas as the king situated himself comfortably at the box podium. "I should hope so." Xemnas said with a slight chuckle, Axel chuckling quietly himself, a little nervously, with Xemnas. "I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Sora."

Axel gave a nod and a very wide reassuring smile. "Your Majesty, out of all your children, Sora is by far the most glorious out of all of them. His voice _is_ the most beautiful." Axel turned, still smiling as he began swimming down towards the front of the stage, his red tail swishing back and forth in the water, while he murmured to himself, "If the boy would actually come to a rehearsal for once...!"

The red-haired composer stopped right in front of the orchestra, emerald orbs staring down at his already set-up sheet music that was placed perfectly in front of him. He gave a small sigh and reached down to grasp his conducting wand, tapping the front of the sheet music stand and getting the orchestra's attention before he then began to direct the orchestra, where a rather happy tune came out of the musical instruments that the merpeople in the orchestra created.

The curtain on the stage was pulled back completely to reveal the stage where four very large clam shells sat, three popping open at once to reveal six young mermaids, all smiling prettily as they began singing along with the music.

"_Oh, we are the daughters of Xemnas. Great father who loves us and named us well!_"

Momentarily, Xemnas gave a proud smirk himself as he stared at his daughters on the stage, as they all began to recite their names.

"_Aquata! Andrina! Arista! Atina! Adella! Allana!_"

Every single one of the pretty young girls all gave their own little few high notes, where Axel conducted each one, smiling at his accomplishments before him, singing wonderfully on the stage. And in just a few moments, the most beautiful of all voices would begin to sing before everyone and it would be tremendous.

"_And then there is the youngest in our musical debut,_" continued the princesses, all gathering around the last large clam shell that would have the prince inside of it, "_our seventh little brother, we're presenting him to you. To sing a song Axel wrote, his voice won't bore ya!_"

The clam began to slowly open and soon Prince Sora's beautiful voice would echo around the concert hall and impress everybody. The clam was then completely open...

"_He's our brother, Sora_--ahh!"

To Axel's horror, there was nobody inside the clam shell. It was completely empty. There was no merboy inside that clam shell that would be singing gloriously tonight. All of the daughters gasped loudly and looked at each other and Axel swallowed in deep peril as he slowly looked up at Xemnas high above him.

Axel could've sworn he saw Xemnas's eyes glow red, but he looked livid, and Axel knew for a fact that he was going to die tonight...a slow...painful...death.

The next sound next was Xemnas's angry roar of a voice as he yelled out into the concert hall, "_SORA!_"


	2. Chapter II

Disaster came in the concert hall, angry yelling from the audience as of why there was a terrible mess-up and that they wanted to leave immediately, leaving the poor composer, Axel, wanting to crawl away and hide. And the whole explanation for this whole ordeal, was the youngest son of King Xemnas, Prince Sora, who apparently was supposed to be the main act of tonight's performance, but wasn't even there!

The boy was completely oblivious about the concert; in fact, he was miles away from the palace...

Prince Sora, the youngest of Xemnas's children, was fifteen years old, and he loved to explore and have adventures that not any normal merpeople would. He was fascinated by the world beyond the surface of the water, and what was there. He wanted to know more about humans, what they did and what they talked about- just _everything!_

But how on earth could he do any of that? He was a merman, which meant he had no legs whatsoever, only a long, blue fin. All Sora could do was collect their dropped items from aboard ships, or even sunken ships...

With a bright smile, Sora stared forward at something before him, bright, bright sky blue eyes wide with excitement.

"Sora!" came a voice from the distance. "Sora, wait up!"

Sora sighed and looked over his shoulder, seeing a tired looking merboy coming out of the dark waters, the brown-haired prince smiling childishly. "Move your tail, Roxas, come _on._"

Out of the shadowy waters emerged another merman, panting gently as he stopped next to Sora, holding onto a piece of wooden attached to something else.

"Sora," panted the blond merboy, sounding particularly annoyed about something. "You _know_ I can't swim that fast!"

Sora chuckled quietly, rolling his blue eyes and looking over at his friend, "It's because you sleep all the time."

Roxas scoffed, crossing his arms and swishing his gold and blue striped tail back and forth irritably.

Sora's eyes returned to the sight before him, wide and excited. "Look, Roxas. There's the ship I told you about."

Roxas looked over at the sight Sora had been staring at for a very long time, his own blue eyes widening just slightly at the massive sight. It was a huge sunken ship. It looked very old, and it was broken in many, many parts.

"Gosh, isn't it amazing, Roxas?" Sora asked happily but quietly. "Imagine what's inside of it! There could be so many valuable...things I can add to my collection!"

Sora had come prepared. He had brought a little pink bag that belonged to his mother, deciding that it needed more attention by carrying something Sora loved.

Sora began to swim forward and towards the giant ship, Roxas blinking and swimming after him, looking around the dark, caved area around them. He had heard that giant white sharks lived in this area, and Roxas wasn't too keen on being here at this time of night...

"Sora, I-I don't think we should be here right now," the blond said, trying to keep up with the fast swimming prince. "There could be sharks--"

"Come on, Roxas, you can't be getting _scared_, are you?" Sora smiled at his friend.

"Why would I be scared, Sora?" Roxas asked, sounding more irritated by the second. "I was just saying that for _your_ safety. I have the prince with me right now, and if _you_ get hurt, then I'll be done for!"

Sora reached the side of the ship, peeking inside one of the portholes, hardly seeing anything, but he knew if he got inside he'd be able to see just fine and explore the inside of the massive ship. The brunette looked at Roxas and smirked at the words the blond conjured up, cocking his mouth and shaking his head.

"Father doesn't realize how careful I am," Sora spoke gently. "I can take care of myself! It's just more fun to have a friend with me- like you, Roxas. And it's fun to watch you freak out when we go in dangerous areas!" Sora managed a soft giggle while Roxas groaned and crossed his arms again. "Okay, I'm going inside."

"Sora--"

"I'm _going_ inside," Sora repeated a bit more firmly. "You can stay outside if you want. Ya know, watch for some sharks..."

The prince then pushed inside the porthole, slipping inside the ship without a problem. However, when Roxas heard Sora say that about sharks, a shiver ran up the blond's spine and he scrambled towards the window, trying to slip in just as easy as Sora did.

But there was a slight problem...

Roxas's hips were stuck tightly, the blond's upper body on the inside and his tail swishing around frantically on the outside. Roxas grunted painfully as he strained to try and get himself inside the ship, pushing against the inner walls. He pushed and pulled the best he could, but it was frankly no use.

Roxas sighed angrily and looked up to notice that Sora was watching the whole time, an amused smile on his mouth. "_And_ you eat too much, Roxy."

"Just help me, okay?" Roxas said with serious unamusement.

Sora giggled and swam over to Roxas, grabbing the blond's hands and giving a great tug, Roxas squeezed through with a slight popping sound. Roxas gently rubbed at his slightly sore hips, glancing back up to see that Sora was beginning to explore again, leaving the blond behind.

"Sora, what if a shark _does_ come?" Roxas asked, slowly swimming after the prince.

"We'll deal with that problem when it _does_ come," Sora replied, not at all worried about sharks.

Roxas swallowed nervously and continued on through the dark inside of the ship, dreading and hating every second of it. The place was very spooky and creepy. Roxas had stifled a little yelp of surprise when he saw a skeleton, but he kept his cool and simply followed Sora to a higher, upper level of the ship.

Sora slowly reached the top, staring around for anything he could find. He hadn't found much that he had already seen, which was plenty of things. But one thing, one certain item that Sora had never seen before sparkled in the middle of the area from the sunlight above the water.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, oh my GOSH!" exclaimed Sora as he swam very quickly over to the certain thing in the middle of the room.

It was a silver fork, bent slightly from it's experience of sinking.

"Look at it, Roxas!" Sora cried out happily, holding the fork closely and staring at it thoroughly. "Isn't it wonderful?"

Roxas smiled widely, finally looking actually happy about something and forgetting about his fear of actually being there. "Yeah, it's really cool! But what do you think it is?"

"I don't know," Sora said, still smiling very gleefully as he placed the fork safely in his little pink bag. "Marluxia will know, though!"

Something huge suddenly passed by the enormous window of the ship, Roxas spinning around and blinking, feeling that same, terrified shiver run up his spine. "What was that?"

Sora didn't even hear Roxas because he had found something else tremendous: A smoking pipe. The little brunette swam over to grasp the brown pipe, lifting it up to wide eyes and staring at it with curiosity.

"I wonder what this one is?" Sora asked himself, not even noticing Roxas beginning to tremble in fear.

Roxas knew he saw something, and he wasn't joking around this time. Something was there, he knew it.

"Sora," Roxas said, sounding very scared all of a sudden.

"Roxas, relax!" Sora said, still distracted by the human things he was looking at. "Nothing is going to happen."

Roxas's blue eyes suddenly widened when he felt there was something behind him. The blond slowly turned his head and right behind him was a massive shark, opening it's gargantuan mouth with hundreds of sharp teeth, ready to sink into the blond merman's flesh.

Roxas screamed out right as the shark busted through the glass window. "SHARK! SHARK!"

Sora immediately looked up when he heard the crash of glass and Roxas's scream, the blond swimming crazily over to Sora as the shark came chomping it's way inside the ship, Sora grabbing Roxas's wrist and pulling him away from the crazy acting shark as it continued to try and catch the two merboys.

They quickly swam underneath the ship, Sora and Roxas screaming out when the massive shark suddenly broke through the thick wood of the ship, snapping it's huge jaws and continuing to chomp through the wood to get to Sora and Roxas.

Sora was now beginning to panic slightly himself, breathing deeply to try and out swim the dark to the outside, Roxas wailing in fear almost the whole time. The exit was very near, but suddenly Sora felt one of the lose straps of his pink bag slip off and catch onto a piece of wood. Sora gasped and turned around, heading straight back to collect his bag, and towards the psychotic shark.

"Sora! Just leave it!" Roxas shrieked, back pressing against the wall and trying to get as far away from the oncoming shark without leaving Sora.

"Just go!" Sora yelled back, reaching his bag and snatching it right as the shark reached him.

Sora managed to swim away just in time before the shark snapped it's jaws to hopefully grab the brunette in it's mouth.

"Go! Go!" Sora cried, holding onto the bag tightly as they began towards the nearest exit.

The only one exit of the ship that was the closest was the same way they came in. The tight fitting porthole. Roxas was in the lead, now swimming the fastest but still panting as he saw the porthole coming closer and closer. "Oh GOD no!" He cried out in horror, the image of him already getting stuck by his slightly larger hips and getting eaten by the shark and also causing Sora to get eaten as well, and it all would've been his own fault because he had an extra helping of food that one day!

Roxas winced as he prepared to go through the porthole, getting caught just like before, his hips sticking in the small little porthole.

"Roxas!" groaned Sora loudly. Without question, Sora proceeded to push as hard as he could on Roxas's rear end, his tail flailing around. Roxas popped through and Sora easily slipped out, a second later, the shark busting through the wall without a problem, still snapping it's jaws as it continued to chase Sora and Roxas.

Both of the merboys were screaming in fear, swimming all the way a round and a round the tilted sail. Roxas was looking over his shoulder at the shark, not paying attention to where he was going until he actually looked back and his head came in contact with a firm, metal pole. With a painful sounding _dong_, Roxas's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he began to float down to the bottom of the reef.

Sora gasped when he saw Roxas floating down to the bottom, noticing the shark going straight for the knocked out blond merboy. Sora swam as quickly as possible down to Roxas, grabbing the blond's arm through the hole of a huge anchor and jerking him through it, right as the shark reached the anchor. It had planned to go through the hole to grab Roxas, it's head getting caught tightly in the anchor's hole.

Roxas had woken up right as the shark was trapped. The blond panted slightly and rubbed at his forehead where he knew a big bruise was gonna be. Both Sora and Roxas stared at the shark, the shark glaring angrily at the two merboys.

"Obnoxious shark!" Roxas yelled, pulling down his eyelid and sticking out his tongue at the shark.

The shark didn't like that and proceeded to snap angrily at Roxas, the blond yelping out in surprise as he swam quickly after Sora who was swimming up to the surface.

"Roxas almost got eaten by a shark!" Sora sang. "Because his hips would've been too big!"

"Shut up, Sora!"

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It was morning already, and the sun was very bright on the land. It would feel like an uncomfortable day, but not for one certain merman who was perched on a little island in the middle of the water. His rosy pink tail was slightly in the water while his upper body was resting on the warm, sandy land.

He was humming to himself as he stared through a telescope up towards the sky, except he was looking through it backwards. There wasn't much to look at in the sky except for a few seagulls, so the pink-haired merman grew bored and began to play with the telescope of pulling it in and out.

"Marluxia!" came Sora's voice.

Marluxia blinked and sat up very quickly, grabbing the telescope and looking through it backwards again. He could see Sora and Roxas in the telescope but they looked like they were really far away, so he began to talk loudly in hopes that Sora and Roxas could hear him from being so far out in the water.

"Woah! Merboys off the port bow!" he yelled loudly.

Marluxia was looking through the wrong end of the telescope, seeing Sora and Roxas and making them appear to be far away when in all actuality both Sora and Roxas were right up next to the island.

"Sora! Roxas! How're you guys doing?"

Marluxia then pulled down the telescope from his dark blue eye and blinked in surprise when he saw both of the merboys right in front of him. Marluxia smiled a very impressed smile. "What a swim..."

"Marluxia, look what we found!" Sora said happily again, pulling out his pink bag and offered it out to the pink-haired merman.

"Cool, human stuff, right?" Marluxia said, sounding just as excited as Sora sounded. "Lemme see! Lemme see!" Marluxia quickly took the pink bag from Sora, admiring the pink colored bag for about three seconds before going through the insides of the bag.

Sora and Roxas waited anxiously for Marluxia to pull something out and say what it was, because Marluxia knew _a lot_ of things about the human world and all the stuff they used. That was why Sora always came to the smartest merman around when he had found something that once belonged to a human on the land.

Finally, Marluxia had picked something specific in the bag. It was the fork, and he stared at it with much interest. "Wooow... This is special; this is very, very special..."

"What?" Sora asked eagerly. "What is it?"

Marluxia took a deep breath and with very wide eyes he proclaimed, "It's a dinglehopper! Humans use these little babies..." Explained Marluxia, pushing both ends of the fork against his index fingers, causing it to spring out and fly out of the pink-haired merman's hands, Marluxia trying to catch it quickly before it escaped. "...to straighten their hair out."

Sora and Roxas exchanged looks and smiled. Only Marluxia would know this...

"Allow me to demonstrate," Marluxia said. Marluxia then promptly stuck the fork into his long, thick pink hair, giving it a twirl, a hard yank and then he pulled it away and Marluxia's hair looked twice as tangled as before. "When you use the dinglehopper, you get an aesthetically pleasing configuration of hair that humans go crazy over!"

Marluxia passed the fork back to Sora who stared at it with much more excitement, repeating the word 'dinglehopper' to himself.

"What about that other thing?" Roxas spoke up.

Marluxia dug through the bag again, retrieving the smoking pipe and looking very excited about it.

"Ohhhh my!" Marluxia exclaimed. "I haven't seen one of these things in YEARS! You'll get a kick out of this one, Sora, ooh my, my, my! A banded, bulbous, snarfblatt."

Both Sora and Roxas looked back at each other, oohing at the pipe that Marluxia referred to as a snarfblatt.

"Now, the snarfblatt," provided Marluxia, dipping the pipe in the water and pouring the water back out again, "dates back to prehistorical times, when humans used to just sit around and stare at each other _all_ day."

Sora stared at Marluxia, listening completely to every word that came out of Marluxia's mouth.

"It got very boring, staring at each other. So, the humans invented the snarfblatt to create extravagant music. Now, allow me." Marluxia placed the pipe to his mouth, blowing hard into it and expecting to hear a tune to come out, but all that came out was more water and seaweed which backfired into Marluxia's mouth causing the merman to cough.

When hearing the word music, Sora gasped when he suddenly remembered something extremely important. The concert.

"Music! Oh NO!" Sora cried.

"What?" Roxas asked, sounding concerned.

"Oh, the concert!" Sora gasped, grabbing at the side of his head. "I missed it! Father is gonna _kill_ me!"

"The concert was today?" Roxas asked, sounding just as scared as Sora was.

Marluxia was still contemplating the pipe, changing his mind and thinking about you could make a planter out of the pipe. Sora then snatched the pipe out of Marluxia's hand and stuffed it back into his bag.

"Sorry, Marluxia, I gotta go!" Sora said, sounding panicked. "Thanks, Marluxia! I'll be back soon!"

Sora wrapped the pink strap of his bag over his shoulder and dived back into the water with Roxas while Marluxia smiled and waved at the two goodbye.

"Anytime, my prince!"

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Sora and Roxas hurried to get back to the palace, but dreading what Xemnas would say when Sora got back. However, somebody was watching them. No other than the sea witch named Larxene, keeping away in her undersea cave, watching the two in golden bubble that glowed brightly.

"Hurry home, little prince," spoke the sea witch, watching in the shadows. "We wouldn't want to miss daddy's celebration, now, would we? Some celebration... When I lived in the palace, we had fantastical feasts..."

Out of the shadows, the sea witch emerged into the light, her form, not a mermaid, but half octopus. She fiddled with her antennae styled blond hair and sighed, holding her stomach like she was about to starve.

"I'm _starved_ down here! How can that 'king' DO this to me?!" she shouted. "What did poor Larxene do to deserve being banished?"

Larxene rubbed at her temple, hearing her stomach growl again. She glanced over at the two eels in the corner of the cave, both sleeping. They might taste good...with a little seasoning... No, she wouldn't eat them! They were her little babies.

"I'll have all the food I want when I have the triton... I'll give those merpeople something to really celebrate soon enough...when _I'm_ back on the throne!"

Larxene growled and spun around, her golden tentacles crossing almost like arms.

"Flotsam! Jetsam!" snapped Larxene.

The two once sleeping eels suddenly came alive, shooting up and awake, staring at Larxene with slightly nervous looking eyes.

"Keep a close eye on Xemnas's precious little son," said Larxene. "He might just be the key to Xemnas's undoing..."


	3. Chapter III

The Little Merman  
Chapter 3

The entire time Sora and Roxas were adventuring around the sunken ship, Roxas had a really, really bad feeling that they shouldn't have been there and they _should've_ been back at the palace. Whatever it was, it was nagging at Roxas's head, distantly telling him they should get back to Atlantica where they were safe and where they should've been. And Roxas was right- they had missed the concert. The almighty King Xemnas's children concert...

And now Sora and Roxas had arrived back at the palace. Sora was actually planning on going straight to his bedroom and just lock himself up and deprive himself from getting any shouts from his father. But on the way to his room Sora had ran right into one of his sisters.

Andrina, the second eldest of all of Xemnas's children, stared down at her younger brother with two very angry blue orbs.

"Andrina, shhh!" Sora gasped, placing a finger at his lips. "Please don't--"

"Daddy! I found Sora!" Andrina exclaimed, swimming quickly away to locate her father.

Roxas placed a hand on his face and groaned into it, knowing this was going to turn out dreadfully. Sora's sisters never really were nice to their youngest brother, Sora. The only time they _were_ nice to Sora was when the brown-haired merman was rehearsing or getting something for them.

Sora decided it would be best to not move, because if he swam off again to try and go hide he would be in even _more_ trouble, and that probably meant Xemnas grounding him and taking something Sora particularly liked away...such as that special comb which he received as a gift from an older merman that happened to 'fancy' Sora, but all his sisters informed Sora that the only reason he liked him was to get closer to his sisters.

"C'mon, Sora, your father isn't going to kill you or anything..." Roxas sighed, stroking Sora's shoulder as they swam quietly together to Xemnas's throne room.

"Trust me, Roxas... Getting yelled at is enough..." Sora uttered in reply.

The underwater corridors were getting darker, making certain that it was turning twilight on the surface. It also signaled that they were getting closer to Xemnas's throne room, and when they arrived Sora prepared himself, bright, wide blue eyes looking up at his father, Xemnas, sitting on the edge of his throne with his arms crossed and a pair of angry orange eyes. Xemnas's eyes were not the only angry orbs staring down at the little merman, but also advisor Axel's emerald eyes, twice as sharp and twice as angry...he looked ready to throw a tantrum and scream his head off in anger at Sora.

Sora offered an extra sweet smile.

"Don't give me that smile, Sora!" barked Xemnas, causing Sora to flinch. "I can't believe you did this, Sora. Your behavior is so...so careless!"

"Not only is it CARELESS" Axel yelled, "but it is very _reckless!"_

"Please, I'm sorry..." Sora spoke, his voice small and thoroughly sincere and sad. "I wanted to do the concert, I really did, I just forgot!"

Xemnas sighed and placed a hand to his forehead. He hated having to yell at his son, really he did. He was the smallest and youngest out of all his children and it was like yelling at a little puppy that had just accidentally chewed up your shoes, as they stared up at you with those _eyes_ and you can't help but just love on them and tell them how good they are. Sora was just like that, except Xemnas was _making_ himself hold in the part where he opened up his long, powerful arms and embraced Sora warmly.

"Sora, how could miss a concert..." began Axel quietly, his knuckles pressing against his forehead, "...when we've been rehearsing it for the past two months?!"

Sora stuck out his bottom lip and looked down, feeling completely ashamed with himself. "I'm s-sorry..."

"You should be sorry, Sora!" Axel yelled again, taking up after Xemnas as the king had now seemed to retire from yelling at his son about missing one of Axel's concerts. "I mean, this concert was going to be the absolute pinnacle of _my_ amazing career, where I can finally show all of Atlantica my masterpieces, my symphonies, my teachings of how to conduct seven beautiful voices!"

Axel took a moment to breathe and just tremble in anger a moment.

"But one of those beautiful voices strayed away from the symphony of my masterpiece, and it was _yours!_ Which has now caused me to become the laughing stock of the ENTIRE kingdom!"

"Axel, just be quiet, it wasn't Sora's _fault!"_ Roxas shrieked from nearby.

Everyone's eyes had gone to Roxas at that moment, the blond feeling now the size of a hermit crab...or smaller. Swallowing, Roxas looked at Sora a moment, noticing the boy had one hand on his upper arm and he was staring at the reef with his head hung.

"You see, this stupid, enormous shark was chasing us, alright?" Roxas began, sounding fairly irritated. "I-It was really scary, you guys! The shark was chasing us and we almost _really_ got eaten!"

Xemnas and Axel exchanged looks that read 'ummm...' as they then looked back at Roxas.

"But we managed to get away from the shark, finally, and we were safe. But it was all because of that guy, Marluxia, that made us late!"

Xemnas blinked and sat up, staring straight at Sora with very wide, angry eyes.

"You went to see Marluxia? Up to the surface, Sora?" Xemnas asked quite firmly. "Didn't you, Sora?!"

Sora bit the inside of his lip and slowly looked at Roxas over his shoulder, giving him the coldest glare he could manage. Roxas mentally stabbed himself in the stomach for being such an idiot.

"Dad...nothing even happened..."

"Sora! You don't understand, do you? The surface is very dangerous, and you could've seen by one of those monsters! Those..._humans!"_

Sora was now was verging on more anger than shame now as he heard his father mention that humans were monsters. Sora shook his head frantically. "They're not monsters, Dad! They're amazing creatures and I want to see want their world is like!"

"I forbid it!" Xemnas bellowed. "How dare you wish for such a grim thing, Sora! It's beyond dangerous! Do you think I want my youngest son snared by some fish-eater's hook?"

Sora narrowed his brown eyebrows and crossed his arms. "Dad, I'm old enough to know what's good and bad! You're wrong, Dad! The humans are amazing and I want to see more of them!"

"Silence!" Xemnas shouted. "You are only fifteen years old, and that means you live under my ocean, and that means you obey my rules because I am your father! You are from here forbidden to go up to the surface until you are a responsible adult, Sora!"

"Dad!" gasped Sora. "Listen, ple--"

"No! You are NEVER to go to the surface again! Never! I am NOT going to hear you go there again! IS THAT CLEAR?"

Sora chest was heaving slightly as he tried to stop tears from shedding. His lip trembled and he looked down at the reef again, "D-Daddy..."

Xemnas paused and looked over his shoulder at Sora, seeing that the boy had his face in his palms, his shoulders shaking slightly. He heard the boy sniffle, and then he turned swiftly and swam off with Roxas.

Xemnas gave a great sigh, seating himself back down on his throne. He placed a hand over his eyes, and he shook his head, feeling his heart ache far too hard. He heard Axel next to him scoff.

"Your Majesty, do not let Sora's tears get to you. Teenagers can use crying as a technique to get anything they want because it'll make you feel sorry for them. Trust me, Your Majesty, you give them anything and they will _swim_ all over you."

Xemnas clamped his hand down harder over his eyes, feeling terrible. After about four seconds, he looked up at the red-haired merman next to him, speaking gently, "You don't think I was too...hard on him?"

"Of course not!" Axel immediately replied with a firm but calm voice. "After everything Sora has been doing lately, that is truly the punishment he deserved. If Sora was my son then I would show him who was in charge, and not doing these absurd things like going to the surface and chatting with other merpeople who don't even _belong_ here!"

Xemnas placed a hand on his chin and pondered this a moment.

"I would keep that boy under extreme, tight control, I would--"

"You're absolutely right, Axel," Xemnas suddenly spoke, sounding pleased and interested with the redhead's words.

Axel gave a beaming smile and closed his eyes, "I know..."

"That is exactly what Sora needs: constant supervision," Xemnas continued.

Axel nodded, a wide smile on his face, "Yes, constant." Axel thought he was incredibly smart with his words, and it was great whenever Xemnas would take his advice and actually use it, like what it sounded like right here. This was going to be fantastic...

"Someone to watch over him, to show him what is right and wrong, to keep him out trouble," Xemnas went on, loving the idea.

Axel nodded in agreement, a wide smile on his face, his arms behind his back. "All the time, Your Majesty."

"And you know who would just be _perfect_ for that job, Axel?" Xemnas questioned, glancing over at the green-eyed merman.

Axel paused a moment, blinking a moment, "Uhhm..."

"You are just the merman for this job!"

Axel stared at Xemnas a moment, "Me?"

"Yes, Axel, you are just the one. I know who would be good enough to watch over Sora and you are going to be the perfect influence on him. Trust me."

Axel chewed on the inside of his lip, blinking in defeat, however not smiling as he turned away and began swimming towards the corridor, feeling particularly angry with himself for getting this idea...

Axel figured that, as his new job as a baby-sitter for a fifteen year old, he should locate Sora immediately. He had no desire to do this, of course...he shouldn't be watching over some seriously head-strong teen like Sora.

"Axel, how do you get yourself into situations like these?" the redhead asked himself as he continued down the empty corridor. "You should be doing anything but following around some teenage boy... Like writing new music! That's what I've been called to do. Not baby-sit!"

And goodness, where was Sora? He seemed to be nowhere in sight. Axel had inspected the entire palace and Sora wasn't there. The redhead had finally spotted him and Roxas swimming away from his bedroom and towards the open waters. He was holding a little pink bag a little possessively, Axel cocking an eyebrow and pondering on what Sora was about to do.

Before he lost sight of them, Axel quickly began to follow Sora and Roxas, keeping a little ways behind but still a good eye on them. The only problem was, was that Sora seemed to swim pretty fast, and he had heard Roxas wasn't a very fast swimmer but he was much faster than Axel. The red-haired merman was dragging behind and he almost lost them about three times.

Panting, Axel came to a stop to lay himself upon a large rock, his tongue lolling in and out of his mouth. Sora and Roxas were not twenty feet away from Axel, the brunette staring around to make sure nobody was watching - he didn't notice Axel now peeking from behind the rock curiously.

Sora was stopped in front of a very large boulder that looked like it covered an entrance to an undersea cave. With the help of Roxas, the two managed to push the boulder aside to then slip into the dark cavern. Flailing crazily and full of exhaustion, Axel swam quickly towards the closing boulder, hoping to reach it in time before it shut completely. However, it closed before Axel could slip in himself.

With an angry gaze towards the surface of the water, Axel stuck out his bottom lip and glanced towards the massive boulder again. He pressed his shoulder against the boulder and pushed upwards as hard as he could. It didn't budge, and Axel cursed himself for being a weak, little girl and tried again with much more strength. Finally it actually moved and it opened enough to where Axel could slip as quickly as possible inside before the boulder closed again.

Axel managed to make it in safe and sound, sighing in utter exhaustion as he rubbed his now bruised shoulder before he focused on what was inside the cave...

The redhead's eyes almost popped out of his head at the sight he saw. It was a massive cave with many ledges that reached slowly up to a small opening on the ceiling of the cave that caused light to shine down and show Sora's enormous collection of many human items and objects.

The items sparkled and shimmered in the light that shone down from the outside, Axel finding himself unable to stop staring at everything and even pay attention to the two merboys in the center of the cave.

Roxas was just behind Sora, the brunette resting on his stomach on a long, slanted rock that looked perfect for his body shape, his blue eyes inspecting the fork he had found earlier in the sunken ship. His face looked anything but happy though, he looked very melancholy and depressed as he placed the fork on an empty candle stick stand with two other pieces of silverware in the holes where the candles would be.

"Sora?" Roxas spoke gently, moving around to sit down on the little open space that was rock and looking down at the boy's face. "Are you okay?"

Sora replied with a soft sigh, he eyes becoming half-lidded a moment as he turned over onto his back, his eyes staring directly at the opening at the top of the cave where he could see the sun peeking over the water.

"How can he...just assume that humans are..._monsters?_" Sora asked. "I guess...I don't see the things the way he does..."

Sora slowly sat up and looked all around the cave for a moment, admiring all of the beautiful items he had collected. "I don't see how a world that makes such beautiful things...could be bad..."

Axel's emerald eyes were still staring around the cave at all of the strange, odd items that surrounded him. Some of them were so amazing he couldn't stop simply staring... He noticed Sora swimming over to one particular item, which looked like two little humans connected to a round little stand- they were holding hands.

"Roxas, have you seen this one?" Sora asked, motioning for Roxas to come over. The blond did and looked at the object Sora was talking about. "Marluxia said that these humans are doing something called dancing..." Sora smiled widely, showing his teeth and resting his head against his arm, his hand gently turning the couple slightly and earning a little tingle of music in reply.

"Marluxia also said that this is called a box full of music, and that when you turn the knob..." Sora's hand reached a little blindly around to the back of the music box, turning the little knob a few times, and then then the couple on the top began to move slowly as a sweet and gentle sounding melody rippled out of the box.

Sora sighed and smiled, watching as the couple continued to circle around, the music continuing.

"Dancing...I wish I could dance..." Sora murmured, causing Roxas to smile. "It looks fun, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Roxas responded with a nod. "It couldn't be all that hard, could it? I mean, they're just standing in one position and turning."

Sora laughed gently and shook his head, "No, Roxas. They move their feet!" Sora pointed directly to the human's feet, smiling brightly. "This is just a statue..." Sora sighed again, his eyes relaxed as he continued to watch the little spinning couple on the stand.

"They look so romantic..." Sora said. "I bet dancing is to show somebody affection. What do you think, Roxas?"

Roxas shrugged and cocked his mouth, "I dunno, Sora. But you're probably right, the two look pretty happy together..."

Sora gave a quiet giggle, suddenly sitting up more and swimming further out into the center of the cave, grabbing Roxas's hands on the way. "Come on, Roxas, let's try and dance!"

Roxas blinked and found his cheeks reddening, "Wha-what?"

"Come on! I bet we can try, it'll be fun, Roxas!"

"S-Sora, we don't have legs, we have fins... It won't look right, it'll look embarrassing!" Roxas pleaded, still blushing.

"Here, just place your hand right here," Sora instructed, moving Roxas's hand so it rested on Sora's bare waist. "And let's put our hands together, and intertwine our fingers, okay?" Roxas continued to blush darkly, but did as Sora said, pushing his fingers in between Sora's, feeling the brunette place his other hand on Roxas's shoulder.

"Okay, now just move with me," giggled Sora.

The best he could, Sora began to sway a little like how a human might do, turning around in the little circle slowly like how the couple were doing on the music box. Axel was still watching in the shadows- his arms were crossed and he was staring at the two dancing with a slight interest. Dancing seemed so pretty.

The music from the music box was still playing, and it seemed to fit perfectly with Sora and Roxas's 'dancing'. Sora gave another giggle, twirling away from Roxas a moment, their hands still intertwined, Sora gracefully moving back into Roxas, the brunette laughing and blushing, Roxas smiling widely himself and causing a chuckle to leave him as well.

Axel was getting so interested that he had moved closer, and he was leaning against a very precarious box, and of course the redhead knew this unknowingly, only until it proceeded to fall and crash to the floor along with several other items which made a far too loud noise. Axel gasped and slapped a hand over his mouth, looking up when he saw Sora and Roxas staring right at him.

"Axel?!" Sora gasped.

With a rough sigh, Axel finally realized he should probably start doing what Xemnas would do at this time and begin to get answers from this deranged, human-loving boy.

"Sora, are you mad?" Axel said, practically whispering, scared that someone would hear.

"Axel, you don't have to whisper, no one's gonna hear us," Roxas said, fully pulling away from Sora, still blushing slightly.

"Sora, what IS all this stuff?" Axel asked demandingly, eyes wide and serious.

Sora paused a moment, biting his lip and looking over at Roxas. The blond rolled his blue eyes and nodded in approval for Sora to say what was going on, because Axel wasn't nearly as big of a deal as Xemnas...unless he told him...

"It's my...collection," Sora replied, in a light stammer.

Axel paused himself, crossing his eyes and becoming very somber, but it didn't last long. The fiery redhead was already yelling, "If your father saw this place he would have your fins mounted on the WALLS!"

"Axel!" gasped Sora and Roxas simultaneously.

"Don't tell Dad, please!" Sora begged, pressing his hands together. "He wouldn't understand, Axel, please!"

Finally Axel managed a smile, giving it just to Sora, "You seem to be under a lot of pressure, Sora, especially down here under this cave... Come on, we'll calm down those crazy nerves of yours with something good to drink..."

Without further question, Axel reached out to take Sora's hand and begin to lead him towards the large boulder again. Sora just planned to go along with Axel and just do as he said for the day, but something caused an enormous shadow to come upon the already dark cave. Sora blinked and looked up towards the opening in the ceiling while Axel was trying to push the boulder aside again.

Something large was passing above, on the surface of the water. Sora's bright blue eyes blinked and he wondered just what that was up there. With Sora's help, he pushed aside the boulder himself, Axel wondering how he did that, and Sora began to quickly swim towards the surface.

"Sora?" Roxas asked. "Sora, where're you going?"

"Sora!" Axel called, noticing where Sora was going. Both Roxas and Axel quickly followed Sora to the water's surface, wondering themselves what that massive thing was.

Sora's eyes widened in surprise when he saw now bright, colorful explosions happen in the sky above the water. He had to see what was going on outside, the brunette arriving at the surface, water droplets dripping down his face and from the large brown spikes on his head.

His eyes widened even more, a smile crossing his lips. Axel and Sora then joined Sora on the surface, both males looking instantly at Sora, however Roxas's blue eyes went straight to the bright sight that Sora was looking at.

"Sora, what did your father _just_ say?" Axel asked firmly. "Not to--" Axel then finally got the memo and looked himself, his eyes widening the most, but almost more in slight fear as he began to move back slightly. "Oh my God..."

Sora couldn't take his eyes away. It was so magnificent. The bright, colorful explosions in the sky were so beautiful, and they whistled and shrieked right before they would explode in the sky. They were coming from a huge, amazing ship, where Sora could also hear music and laughter. Sora couldn't hold himself back any longer, especially being this far away from the ship. Sora began to swim forward, diving in and out of the water to gain speed.

Axel gasped and grabbed at the side of his head in horror. "Sora! _Please_ come back!"

Sora didn't even hear Axel as he continued to dive and swim forward, closer and closer to the ship that was making such happy and joyful noises. After a short swim, Sora had made it right next to the ship. He saw what appeared to be a ladder on the side of the ship, the brown-haired merman reaching out to climb up the little steps and reach the deck where there was a little open space near the floor and underneath the railing.

Sora smiled and watched with extreme fascination as he saw humans of all sizes dance across the deck, with cheerful music playing, accordions, and saxophones filling the ship as the sailors danced happily. Sora couldn't look away, it was so amazing and he couldn't wipe away the smile, and nor did he want to, for this was just to exciting.

A little nearby, Sora saw something that didn't _look_ a human, but he had no idea what it was. It was a large, black and white Border collie- and she was hopping up and down cheerily with the sailors that were dancing. That's when the little collie stopped and her nose wiggled, her eyes bright and curious as she suddenly began to sniff the deck, like she was looking for something...and she was nearing Sora.

Sora gasped and turned away from the little window-like opening, pressing himself flat against the side of the ship. The brunette blinked, wondering if the dog had left, but when he turned he was met eye to eye with a happy looking little collie. She was panting and staring straight at Sora, her tail wagging, and then, without warning, she dragged her tongue across Sora's cheek, the brown-haired merman blinking in surprise as he rubbed his now wet cheek.

The collie then turned away, her ear perked up when she heard a loud whistle come from someone on the ship. "Maxine! Come here, you silly doggy!"

She then trotted away quickly, forgetting completely about Sora as the brunette turned and looked around in the opening again, watching as the dog, Maxine, stopped in front of a human, and they were happily razzling with her, stroking her head as she barked up at them. Sora couldn't see their face because several sailors were in the way, but when they had moved, Sora had gone completely stricken...

It was the most beautiful human Sora had ever seen. His bright turquoise eyes were on Maxine, a happy smile on his face as he allowed her to lick all over his face and then bark happily again, before he stood back up and pushed some shining silver hair behind his ear. Sora continued to stare at him, almost unblinkingly, before he smiled, finding that his heart was fluttering happily...

"Sora? What'cha doin', Sora?" came a loud voice from below.

Sora gasped and winced, turning and looking below him and noticing Marluxia in the water waving at him with a smile on his face. "Be quiet, Marluxia! They'll here you!"

Marluxia smirked, doing as Sora said and not saying another word, however he did climb up the ladder himself just to see what the brunette was staring at. He rested his own arms on the deck and stared around at the sailors dancing. "We're being intrepidities, right Sora?" Marluxia chuckled. "We're OUT TO DISCOVER!"

Sora then slapped a hand over the pink-haired merman's mouth, silencing him and shushing him firmly, "Be quiet..." He whispered, staring straight into Marluxia's dark blue eyes. He then pulled his hand back and returned to staring at the dancing sailors on the ship.

"It's quite a show, isn't it?" Marluixa said with a smile, glancing at Sora a moment then back at the humans.

"I've never been this close to humans before..." Sora said gently. His eyes went straight to the silver-haired human, still playing with Maxine. "Look, Marluxia... Him...he's so...handsome..." Sora sighed and rested his cheek against his arm, continuing to simply stare at the silver-head, completely love struck.

Marluxia scratched the back of his head and stuck out his bottom lip, however smirking at Sora's sentimental gaze at the silver-head. "Well, Sora, if you're into humans with lots of hair and tend to drool a lot."

Sora began to laugh, stifling it dearly to not start laughing hysterically, "No, Marluxia! No..." Sora leaned towards the pink-haired merman, staring directly at the silver-head, "The one playing the snarfblatt..."

Marluxia chuckled, "Him, Sora? Aw, he's not that good-looking... I've seen better, but yeah, you're right, he is pretty handsome, innit he?" Marluxia laughed and Sora only smiled and found his cheeks warmer than usual.

"Silence! Silence!" came another human, standing a little offside. He tightened his small blond ponytail and got everyone's attention as all the sailors stopped playing music and dancing, staring right at the golden-haired man, this one looking much older than the one human that Sora was staring at. "I need everybody's full attention, please! It now my honour and great priviledge to present our own esteemed Prince Riku wtih a very special, very _expensive_, very large birthday present."

Sora blinked and glanced back at the silver-head, realizing that it was his birthday. Not only that, but he was prince, just like Sora. And his name...Riku, it fit him so perfectly.

The silver-head strolled over to the blond, watching as the sailors all pushed out a very large something underneath a huge canvas. Sora had no idea what could be under there, but Riku looked very interested to see what it was.

"Oh, Vexen, you old beanpole, you really shouldn't have, you know," Riku grinned, crossing his arms as his eyes returned to the massive thing underneath the huge cloth.

Vexen merely grinned and rolled his eyes, "Happy Birthday, Riku." The sailors then removed the giant canvas and it fell from the huge thing underneath, revealing a large, gaudy statue of Riku. He was wearing, what looked like, a very uncomfortable outfit with the puffy sleeves and tight pants and everything. His foot was rested on a rock and there was a sword in his hand and he was pointing it up to the skies.

Riku cocked his mouth, not too sure if he liked this statue, and he heard Maxine growl. Riku then sighed and stepped towards the statue of himself, inspecting the statue thoroughly, although reluctantly.

"Wow...Vexen, it's well...um, it's, ehn...really _somethin'_..." Riku managed to get out as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I commissioned it myself," Vexen replied, standing next to Riku and looking up at the statue fondly. Vexen then gave a little scoff and adjusted his tie. "It would've been far better if it was a wedding present, though."

"Jeez, Vexen," Riku groaned, looking away and towards the ocean. "Don't bring that up again, it's getting old. I can't believe you're still sore because I didn't fall for the princess of Glauerhaven."

Vexen sighed and shook his head, "Trust me, Riku, it isn't me alone... The whole kingdom wishes you would just settle down _happily_ with someone... The right someone..."

"I'll find them, Vexen," Riku responded, hopping up to sit on the railing of the ship and stare out at the sea again. "They're out there somewhere..."

Sora was situated right below of where Riku was sitting, and he was leaning against the ship in the slight shadows, staring up at him where he sat, smiling gently.

"Maybe you should look harder, Riku..." Vexen grumbled.

"Believe me, Vexen, once I've found them I'll know...without a doubt," Riku said with a grin. "It'll hit me, you know...like lightning."

Ironically, right after Riku had said that, thunder sounded and Riku glanced up towards the sky, seeing it had grown very dark, the clouds covering the beautiful night, starry sky. The wind was picking up, causing the sails to billow slightly, while a drop of rain hit Riku's cheek.

"Hurricane!" Riku gasped.

"STAND FAST!" shouted a sailor. "SECURE THE RIGGIN'!"

Rain began to fall from the sky hard and faster, the wind was blowing roughly and it even caused Marluxia to fall off the side of the ship and back in the water, the pink-haired merman quickly remerging to the surface, "Sora! Come down, the wind's too rough!"

However, Sora didn't even hear- the thunder was too loud, but he held on as hard as he could to the ship, wanting to know where Riku was going to leave, he needed to be alone with him and talk with him.

The helm on the ship was spinning madly, causing the ship to turn away from their right route, Riku rushing quickly forward to grab the helm and turn it back around, waves of foamy water crashing down onto the ship and soaking the sailors.

"Riku! Look out!" shouted a sailor.

It had been so dark from the rain clouds, Riku wasn't noticing what was coming his way. It was a massive rock, looming ahead as it glowed when the lightning crashed. Riku gasped and he knew there was no way he could turn the ship in time. But even before they hit the gargantuan rock, lightning suddenly hit the sails, causing it to catch on fire.

The ship hit the rock from it's side, everyone immediately falling off the ship and into the water, the sudden hit causing Sora to fall off as well, falling hard back into the ocean. One of the sailors had managed to pull down a lifeboat in time, all of the sailors and Riku on it. He noticed Vexen was splashing around in the water, almost sinking and gasping for air.

"Vexen!" gasped Riku, reaching forward to tug on the man's arm and pull him into the boat. Vexen breathed in deeply, dripping wet from head to toe.

"Hurry and get to port!" Riku ordered. The sailors reached for the oars, everyone glowing in the ship's fiery mass. But Riku then heard something- a distant bark, the silver-head whirling around and seeing Maxine was still on the ship, hopping up and down and barking frantically at Riku.

"Maxine!" gasped Riku, his eyes wide.

Quickly, Riku dived back into the water, returning to the ship and climbing on board. The fire was growing worse, and it was almost covering the entire ship. Maxine was above Riku, on a higher deck, barking desperately, terrified out of her mind. There was no way Riku could climb up there and get her down to the lower deck. She had to jump.

"Maxine, jump!" Riku called up to her. "You can do it, Maxine!" Maxine looked around frantically, her eyes wide, but then, she ran towards the edge and jumped off, Riku opening his arms and catching her carefully. He began towards the edge of the ship again to where the lifeboat was, but right as he reached the edge of the boat, his foot broke through the wood in the deck, which causing Riku to jut forward and throw Maxine overboard and into the water- and she began swimming desperately towards the lifeboat.

Riku gasped and grunted as he tried to free himself- he was completely trapped and he couldn't free himself. The silver-head looked over his shoulder and stared at the huge pile of fireworks and gunpowder, his eyes widened, his mouth wide and panting.

"RIKU!" yelled Vexen from the lifeboat.

Sora was in the water, eyes wide himself, knowing that Riku was there. "Oh...Riku, get off the ship! Please!"

Riku gripped the side of the ship, still desperately trying to pull himself free, his eyes glancing back at the pile of fireworks behind him, but then right as he looked back, the fireworks and gunpowder was touched by the fire and the ship exploded.

Sora's eyes widened and he quickly moved, diving under the water and searching for Riku desperately. He returned to the surface, seeing pieces of wood everywhere, his blue eyes looking wildly for Riku's body. But he didn't seem to be anywhere... Sora gasped and moaned in fear, but then he saw Riku's body, resting on top of a large piece of wood, but then it gave out and Riku began sinking under the water.

Sora immediately went straight under the water, swimming after Riku's sinking form, moving next to him swiftly to then wrap his arms around Riku's upper body and bring him to the surface of the water. Sora carefully held Riku's head above the water and began to swim towards the shore, the ship sinking behind him...

By the time Sora reached the shore, it was just turning very early morning. Sora gently pulled Riku's unconscious body up onto the sandy shore, the brunette resting next to him and staring at Riku. He wasn't moving, and he didn't even seem to be breathing. There were smudge marks all over him, and his clothes were torn.

All Sora did was stare at him, feeling his heart ache very hard which then brought tears to his eyes.

"Please, Riku... Wake up..."

"S-Sora!" came an exhausted sounding voice.

Sora turned his head and noticed Marluxia was pulling himself up onto the shore, looking extremely tired. He moved up slowly on the other side of Riku, panting gently. "I've been swimming for a seriously long time trying to find you... Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Marluxia," Sora responded. "But...is he...gonna be alright?"

Marluxia looked down at Riku, thoroughly examining his body, poking and prodding in some places. He even opened his eyelid before closing it again. "Hard to say, Sora... I need to listen to his heart beat, then I'll know for sure."

Sora bit his lip in apphrension as Marluxia moved down to Riku's legs, the pink-haired male reaching up to lift Riku's foot up as he then pressed his ear against the bottom of Riku's right foot. Marluxia listened good and hard for a moment, but then his expression went sad and he shook his head.

"I can't hear anything, Sora..."

Sora looked back at Riku's face, and he was terrified tears would spill, but then he gasped and looked at Riku's face again. He was breathing, his mouth was open and his chest was slowly moving up and down.

"He's breathing, Marluxia!" Sora exclaimed gently.

"Oh good!" Marluxia exclaimed back. "Maybe I was listening to his heart in the wrong place. Next time, I'll try his stomach."

Sora continued to stare at Riku's face, the brunette ever so gently caressing the silver-head's cheek, as he placed pieces of his silver tresses back so he could see more of his face. "He's so beautiful..."

Sora smiled and moved a bit closer to Riku, "I've never seen a more beautiful human in my life before... What I would _give_ to live with you...Riku... I would love to be by your side, and you would...smile at me..."

The sun began to rise more, and out in the water emerged Roxas and Axel, both looking thoroughly exhausted themselves, and to Axel's horror, he saw Sora leaning over a human...with legs...

Axel mouth fell open and he felt Marluxia wrap an arm around him and close the redhead's mouth while he looked back at Sora with a smirk.

"It would be just enough to sit out here in the sun," Sora continued sweetly, stroking Riku's cheek. "Just the two of us..." Riku began to stir in his unconscious state, the sun rising more and shining over his face, a very quiet noise leaving him as he cracked open his eyes. "I would be part of your beautiful world, Riku..."

Riku looked up and saw Sora's form, silhouetted by the golden sunlight, smiling at him. Riku's eyes widened a little and he was unable to look away from the beautiful face looking down at him.

Sora blinked and looked up when he heard distant barking and he moved away, diving back into the water. The next thing Riku knew was that he was being slobbered on by Maxine, and the sound of Vexen calling his name.

"Riku! Oh, Riku!" gasped Vexen as he reached the silver-haired male.

Riku slowly began to rise to his feet, his eyes directed right at the ocean.

"Riku, you must really delight in these sadistic strains on my blood pressure, don't you?" Vexen breathed, panting firmly.

Riku didn't even seem to hear Vexen- he was still staring out at the ocean with entranced eyes. Was he just imagining that beautiful boy speaking to him with such a sweet, pretty voice? No, he couldn't have been... That was all too real.

"Vexen... I was rescued, by a boy," Riku said as he stepped towards the shore. "He was...talking to me...and he knew my name... His voice was so...beautiful..." Riku gasped when he found himself feeling faint again and he staggered, his legs feeling like jelly and he stumbled, Vexen catching him before he fell.

"Swallowed some seawater, Riku?" Vexen said, pulling Riku back to his feet but still holding an arm around him. "Let's go back, Riku..."

Riku turned away with Vexen, however he looked back over to the ocean, wishing he could see another glimpse of that beautiful face and hear that lovely voice.

Sora was hiding behind a large rock coming out of the ocean, and once Riku was gone from sight, Sora turned and stared towards the ocean. "He...said my voice was...beautiful..."

"Listen to me, you guys," Axel said, getting at least Roxas's and Marluxia's attention. The redhead was shaking slightly. "We're gonna pretend that this whole, entire thing never, ever happened, okay? King Xemnas is never gonna know!" He looked at Roxas and Marluxia. "You guys won't tell him, and I won't tell him! I'm gonna stay in one Axel-shaped piece..."

Sora was still staring at the shore, his heart fluttering and a smile on his face, his mind rushing with ideas.

"Don't worry, Riku... I'll come back again, and you'll see me and I'll become part of your world someday..."

"WOW! This is TRUMENDOUS!" exclaimed the golden-haired woman, Larxene. "This is gonna be _so_ easy..." She was watching what had just happened in the glowing bubble in the middle of her black cauldron. It showed Sora still resting on the large rock and staring at the shore longingly.

"The little fish prince is in _love_ with the human! A human _prince!_" Larxene gasped, roaring with laughter and grabbing at her stomach. She then paused when her flat stomach growled loudly again. "Oh my god, I'm so hungry..."

Larxene paused a moment, breathing deeply and glancing over at a long row of something behind her. It was a little row of tiny little creatures, all with big, bulbous eyes and tiny, wrinkly bodies, not the size of a sea urchin. They were all groaning in fear as Larxene stared at them with a long grin.

"I'm sure King Xemnas's headstrong, lovesick little son would make a charming addition to my garden..." Larxene grinned and chuckled deeply. "I'll be able to rule Atlantica, and have all of Xemnas's children as my little pets, while I'll get to eat all the food I could ever want!"


	4. Chapter IV

The Little Merman  
Chapter 4

Even though Sora had gone up onto the land and touched a human, even though Axel was still panicking about it, even though King Xemnas has not yet found out but seemed to have slight suspicion, even though Sora seemed to be sighing a lot about his experience on land, things were going pretty peachy around Atlantica these past few days. However, still following Xemnas's orders, Axel practically baby sat Sora, and now Axel realized why Xemnas wanted him to be watched all the time- the boy got into so much trouble Axel was afraid his heart would stop.

To make matters even worse, Sora could not stop talking about that man named Riku up on the land and how handsome he was and how much he wanted to see him again. Axel was terrified, really, and he had been trying desperately to get Sora's mind elsewhere than on Prince Riku. Axel had even introduced Sora to a few handsome mermen and a couple of mermaids that he thought Sora might be interested in in.

But Sora wasn't in the least.

No matter how much Axel tried to stop Sora's lovesick and yearning heart for Riku, Sora would just find a way to bring up Riku again. It also didn't help that Roxas and Marluxia weren't lending a hand in this as well. In fact, they were doing the complete _opposite_ to what Axel wanted. Roxas seemed to find the entire ordeal amusing and possibly cute, the way Sora would be relaxing on the seabed staring up at the surface of the water where he could see the sun beyond, sighing, smiling and blushing. Axel couldn't believe that Roxas actually thought that, but oh, let me tell you, Marluxia was even worse.

Marluxia actually brought it up more than Sora did. Marluxia made the merman prince so excited sometimes to where it seemed Sora was gonna go and climb onto the shore himself, fins and all. Axel wanted to strangle Marluxia for being so irresponsible, but Marluxia would always say something of the lines "Love can never be defeated!" or "How can you possibly want tear apart this loving relationship Sora and Riku have?" and then Axel would get so angry to the point where he would shout, saying something like, "THEY'RE NOT IN A RELATIONSHIP YOU DUNCE!"

Axel was sure he would get found out, and very soon- he could feel it. Why did he have to deal with this kind of stuff? All Axel wanted to do was write music, instead he had to watch after King Xemnas's lovesick and troublesome son who had an obsession with humans.

One afternoon, in particular, it seemed that Sora didn't care about anybody being suspicious as of why he was acting a certain way. He was humming a lot lately, around his sisters mostly, who seemed to know exactly what was going on. But that afternoon, Sora had been in his and his sisters' dressing rooms, humming gently to himself as he sat by one of the large open windows that overlooked the city below. There was a very happy smile on his face, eyes relaxed and they seemed to be smiling themselves.

His sisters were nearby, sitting at a large vanity table, nearly all of them were looking at Sora and wondering why he looked so darn happy.

"Sora?" came Arista, messing with the ends of her blonde hair. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no," Sora sighed happily, moving away from the window. "Everything's fine." Sora continued to hum, his long fin swishing back and forth in the water as it slowly lead him out of the dressing room, gasping gently when he ran right into Xemnas.

"You okay?" Xemnas seemed to chuckle while Sora rubbed his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sora smiled brightly, although running right into his father's particuarly toned torso didn't exactly feel good. And then Sora continued on his way, continuing to hum happily, leaving his sisters at his father watching him curiously.

"Who do you think the guy is, then?" grinned Atina, glancing at a few of her sisters.

"I was thinking maybe that Hayner kid," replied Aquata, crossing her arms and looking amused.

"Oh, really?" added Andrina, placing her hands on her hips. "I know you're totally wrong because Sora had been staring at Setzer all day yesterday."

"What're you girls talking about?" Xemnas asked deeply, smiling slightly. "What on earth is going on with Sora?"

"Sora's in love, Daddy!" cried Andrina. "It's so obvious!"

Almost at the same time, every single one of Sora's sister's sighed, a few of them smiling at the thought of their youngest sibling being in love. Xemnas cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms, smirking slightly, "So Sora's in love, eh? I'd like to know who this special person is."

"It's no doubt it's Setzer!"

"He's too old for Sora, it has to be Hayner like how Aquata said!"

Axel was getting extremely tired of this. The redhead had yet another day to watch over Sora, direct orders from Xemnas, and Sora was, yet again, talking about Riku. After a moment of plucking petals off a little flower type plant, Sora had squealed so happily when the last petal said that Riku loved Sora.

"Ohhh, I've got to see him again!" Sora exclaimed, sitting up from where he was laying down on a long rock. "I can't stand it anymore."

"Sora," Axel warned sternly as Sora began to swim away. "Sora!"

"Marluxia will help me," Sora told himself as he swam faster up towards the surface, planning on going straight to Marluxia to ask him for help. "I'm sure Roxas will help me, too! Maybe if I make a lot of noise--"

Axel finally took matters into his own hands and grabbed a hold of Sora's fin, jerking the boy back down away from the surface, Sora yelping gently as he felt himself being placed back down where he was sitting moments ago. Sora looked up and stared right into the face of a very serious looking Axel.

"Sora," began the redhead. "When are you gonna realize that you can't go back up there again. It's really dangerous! The human world is a complete wreck, nobody in the sea wants to go up there, it's just not normal. Trust me when I say that anything down here is waaaay better than what they have up there."

"Oh, I don't know," Sora said, looking back up at the surface again.

Axel quickly grabbed Sora's chin, making the brown-haired prince look him straight in the eye.

"I know it may seem the seaweed is always greener in someone else's lake, but once you finally live it yourself you'll wish you were back where you were before," Axel said, trying to keep Sora's attention as the boy continued to roll his blue eyes. "Hey, don't roll your eyes at me!"

This caused Sora to giggle slightly and finally have his chin free from Axel's grasp.

"You do also realize that humans eat fish, right?" Axel started again.

"No joke," Sora said, acting surprised by this even though he didn't truly think Riku would ever eat a fish.

"I'm not joking," Axel said. "Up there, they catch fish and eat every bit of them. It's horrible, really- they even eat the bones!"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Sora laughed gently, looking back up towards the surface.

"But enough talk about humans," Axel smirked while he crossed his arms. "What do you want to do, Sora?"

Sora hesitated, looking away from Axel for a moment. He knew what he _wanted_ to do, and that was to go up to the surface again and see if he could find Riku again and possibly get his attention. Sora knew that wasn't what Axel wanted him to do and Sora sighed, glancing back up at the surface one more time.

"Well..."

"Sora!" came the voice of Roxas.

"Hey, Roxas!" Sora exclaimed happily as the blond merman came to a swimming stop in front of him.

Roxas was panting again, looking very out of breath as he placed a hand on his chest, Sora patting his shoulder kindly and offering a smile.

"I have to show you something," Roxas grinned, taking Sora's hand.

"W-what?" Sora asked, looking very curious.

"It's a surprise, duh," Roxas laughed gently, beginning to pull Sora out into the open.

"H-Hey wait a second!" Axel called. "Where're you two going?"

"No nagging red-haired musicians allowed!" Roxas called, smirking back at Axel. The redhead gave a light growl of irritation and crossed his arms, watching the two before the disappeared out of his sight.

"Somebody has really got to nail that boy's fins to the floor," Axel grumbled, pouting slightly.

Axel didn't even really know where to go next- if he should follow Sora or not. With a sigh, Axel decided he would follow after them because that was Xemnas's orders. Right as Axel was about to swim away, he heard his name called from a slight distance. The redhead stopped and glanced up, noticing another merman making his way towards Axel. It was Demyx and he looked intent on talking to Axel.

"What is it?" asked Axel as Demyx reached him.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Demyx said. "King Xemnas wants to see you right now; it's an urgent message about Sora."

Axel's face drained of all it's life when he heard this. Oh no, Xemnas knew! Axel reached up to cover his mouth to stifle a terrified noise that might escape as Demyx tugged on Axel's arm.

"Immediately, Axel!" Demyx yelled.

"Okay!" Axel choked on his own breath, slowly and reluctantly following Demyx towards the palace of Atlantica.

Once Axel had lost Demyx at the entrance to the palace, Axel deliberately took his time in getting to Xemnas's throne room. He practically dragged himself there, dreading what Xemnas might say (or do) to him. Axel had already thought of ways he might be eliminated out of the kingdom; such as Xemnas doing particularly humiliating things to him with his powerful triton. Axel gulped painfully, trying to get that lump out of his throat as he imagined Xemnas turning him into some sort of sea animal. Axel whimpered in anxiety as he slowly arrived at the front entrance of Xemnas's throne room.

Swallowing dryly again, Axel reached up and knocked on the doors. He instantly heard a response from Xemnas within to come inside. Axel, shakily, turned the handle and slowly slipped inside.

"Don't overreact," Axel whispered to himself through his teeth as he offered Xemnas a smile. "If you remain calm then he won't suspect..."

Axel took a deep breath before moving forward, closer to Xemnas, his heart hammering against his chest, however his expression remained calm and serious. Once Axel arrived at the base of Xemnas's throne, the redhead looked up at him and spoke in a raspy, high and croaky voice, "Yes, Your Majesty?"

Xemnas seemed to ignore the way Axel spoke and immediately began to start on the topic he wished to discuss with Axel, "Axel, I'm a little bit concerned about Sora."

"Oh?" Axel spoke out, his shoulders trembling slightly.

"Yes," Xemnas continued, orange eyes narrowing slightly. "He's been acting particularly strange lately."

"Strange, sir?" Axel repeated, swallowing nearly every five seconds.

"You know," Xemnas said, "he's sighing, daydreaming and singing to himself a lot." Xemnas glanced away from Axel for a moment before sharply look back at him. "Have you not noticed?"

Axel couldn't form words. He knew exactly what Xemnas was talking about, but his tongue felt like it was tied in a knot. Axel stammered horribly and continued to gulp and tremble.

"Axel..." came Xemnas firmly.

Axel flinched when Xemnas said his name, the redhead's cheeks turning red with embarrassment as he looked back up at the sea king, smiling nervously with a questioning 'hmm'.

"You're keeping me in the dark over here, Axel," Xemnas smirked slyly. "Tell me what is going on here."

"Me? Keep _you_ in the dark?" Axel said again, acting as if that was the most ridiculous thing he ever heard.

"I _know_ you're keeping something from me," Xemnas said.

"Something...keeping...something...from you?" Axel drawled, swaying nervously back and forth in the water.

"About Sora?" Xemnas said, his smirk growing. "Tell me, Axel. Is Sora..._in love?"_

Axel was shaking violently all over, goose bumps covering his pale skin. He couldn't hold it in anymore, he bit his bottom lip before crying out, "I swear to you, King Xemnas, I TRIED to stop him, but he just wouldn't listen to me! I told him over and over to stay away from humans, they are horrible, bad, they are absolute trouble, but he just--"

"Humans?" Xemnas spoke, sounding threateningly angry. "What ABOUT humans!?"

Axel stopped talking, swallowing again and chuckling timidly. "Humans? Did I say-- naww, I didn't say anything about humans..." Axel began to inconspicuously move backwards. "Because, hey, humans they're like, up there and...Sora wouldn't ever go up there again after what-- I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT HUMANS! DON'T KILL ME, YOUR HIGHNESS!" Axel then turned and moved his fin and arms crazily through the water, but something was holding him back. It was Xemnas and he was holding Axel's tail fin tightly in his hand while Axel continued to flail around in the water helplessly.

Sora giggled gently as Roxas continued to lead him back to his grotto, the brunette was constantly asking Roxas what on earth he could have, but Roxas would simply smile and shake his head, occasionally saying it was a surprise. They had finally arrived, Sora still giggling excitedly as they reached the undersea cave.

"Just tell me what it is, will you?" Sora laughed.

"It's a surprise, Sora. You'll see," Roxas said gently as they reached the wide opening to the inside of Sora's grotto.

Sora stopped right next to Roxas in the opening, his blue eyes widening and his breath leaving him at what he saw. It was a perfect statue of Riku, from Riku's birthday party on his ship. It was of Riku holding out his sword towards the skies, wearing a princely outfit while his foot rested up high on a large stone with a elaborate 'R' on it.

Sora's heart fluttered excitedly and he gasped, clinging to Roxas instantly and grinning widely with a bit of goofiness to it, "Oh, Roxas! You're the best! THE best!"

Roxas chuckled and patted Sora's head, the brunette quickly pulling away from Roxas to swim over to the statue of Riku, circling him and inspecting every inch of the stone Riku in front of him. Every part of him looked exactly like Riku, it was perfection.

"It even has his eyes," Sora muttered happily, stopping in front of the statue and placing his hands on the statue's shoulders, Sora's bright blue eyes staring into Riku's eyes. "Now...I can see him anytime I want!" Sora giggled and blushed darkly, going back over to Roxas and hugging him again before going back over to the statue of Riku, playfully speaking to the statue as if Riku was really there, saying things like running away with him and saying how much he thought about him.

Sora giggled again and turned back to look at Roxas but his eyes widened in near horror when he saw Xemnas instead of Roxas, staring at him with narrowed, furious orange eyes.

"D-Dad?" Sora gasped gently.

Behind Xemnas in the shadows was Axel and he looked ready to be sick. He hated himself for spilling out everything to Xemnas and he knew Sora would hate him forever now, the redhead's emerald eyes looking anywhere but Sora, refusing to look at the boy under any circumstances. Why did Xemnas have to drag him along like this?

Slowly, Xemnas emerged out of the shadows into the open, looking nowhere else but Sora. "I set certain rules, and I expect those rules to always be obeyed!"

"Dad, listen, it's--"

"Is it true you rescued a human from drowning!?" bellowed Xemnas, eyes like fire as he continued to stare down at Sora.

"I had to, Dad! He would've died!" Sora cried, more and more easing back away from Xemnas.

"You should have! One less human to worry about!" Xemnas shouted. "Contact between the human world and the mer-world is strictly forbidden! Everyone knows that, Sora!"

"Dad, you don't even _know_ him!" Sora said, eyebrows narrowing at this. "He's different--"

"I don't have to know him," Xemnas snarled. "They're all the same! Savage, harpooning fish-eaters! Incapable of any feeling!"

Sora felt his heart ache and he shuddered, feeling tears welling up in his eyes to the point where it was far too overwhelming. He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed out at his father, "Dad, I love him!" Sora's eyes widened when he realized what he had had just in front of his father and he quickly hid behind the statue of Riku, tears still running down his cheeks.

Everyone's reaction was shocked, and even though Axel had told himself he wouldn't look at Sora, he did when he heard this, feeling even more guilty than he had before, and Roxas looked on the verge of crying himself as he stayed in the corner of the grotto.

Xemnas's eyes were still narrowed, his upper lip curling up into a scowl, "Have you lost your senses _completely?_ He's a human, you're a merman!"

Sora sniffled quietly and rested his head on Riku's back, shaking his head, "I don't care! You can't stop me from loving him."

"So help me, Sora, I'm going to get through to you," Xemnas growled, gripping his triton tightly in his hand. "If this is the only way I'm going to convince you, then so be it..."

Xemnas's triton began to glow a bright golden color, filling the entire grotto with the burning light. Sora's eyes widened when he realized what his father was about to do, and he gasped, shooting out an arm, "Dad, no!"

But Xemnas ignored Sora, swinging his triton to the right as then a brilliant glow erupted from the end, the glow turning into a sharp blast, all of the things Sora had collected from humans exploding and shattering into pieces. Sora grabbed at his hair, eyes huge and horrified as Xemnas continued to destroy all of Sora's beloved things.

"Dad! Please stop! No!"

Sora's face was swimming in tears, and finally he had to go over to his father, banging his fists against Xemnas's arm and crying for him to stop. But Xemnas didn't cease his violence towards all of the items in Sora's grotto, and finally he turned to face the statue of Riku. It dawned to Sora what Xemnas was about to do, screaming out at the top of his lungs, "DAD, NO!"

Xemnas pointed his triton at the statue of Riku, the enormous beam of light shooting out of the end and hitting the statue, and within seconds it had exploded into a mess of gray dust and small blocks of the stone that Sora had no idea which part of Riku's body it was.

Sora's eyes were still wide and horrified, tears still leaking from his devastated blue orbs as well. He simply stayed in the same place, staring at where the statue of Riku had been, before he suddenly let out the loudest sob that nearly was a scream and filled the whole grotto. Sora fell to the ground, hiding his face into his arms, weeping loudly.

Xemnas stared at Sora for a long moment, his eyes still narrowed and angry, but then his face softened and he sighed, slowly turning away from Sora and leaving his grotto. Axel watched as Xemnas passed him, and he absently glanced at Roxas who was staring at Sora, sharing just as much devastation that Sora was having. Axel slowly moved towards Sora, tentatively reaching out to touch the boy's shoulder.

"Sora..."

"Go away!" Sora cried, swatting Axel's hand away. "Just leave me alone!"

Axel slowly backed away from the sobbing brunette, feeling twice as guilty as before. He wanted to stab himself in the heart for what he had done and slowly he turned away, just like how Xemnas had moments ago.

Roxas watched Axel leave, glaring at him before he moved over to Sora but he didn't touch him, "Sora...do you...wanna be alone?"

Sora didn't say anything but simply nodded, face still hidden in his arms, the sounds of his sobs dying down slightly into just whimpers and sniffles. Roxas sighed and nodded, feeling his own heart break as he then slowly exited the grotto as well.

As Sora continued to cry in the dark cave he laid in, he had no idea that four eyes were watching him out of the shadows. The two eels slowly emerged out of their hiding spots, their eyes glowing golden and sharp as they began to circle around above Sora who still had not yet realized they were there.

"What a poor soul," sighed one of the eels, it's voice sounding shaky.

"And he was so sweet, too," came the other eel. "He has a problem...and it's quite serious... Don't you agree?" The two eels looked at each other, smirking and showing their distorted teeth.

"Oh, yes..."

Sora felt his spine tingling when he heard the slimy voices, lifting his head and looking up at the horrible eels, gasping and shooting away slightly.

"If only there was something we could do," said one of the eels again, smirking widely at the other eel. "But...there _is_ something, after all..."

Sora reached around to grasp his upper arms in fear, having no idea what to say or really what to do. Who were these eels and why were they acting so concerned about Sora's misery? The brunette shakily tucked some brown spikes behind his ear and nervously said, "Who...who are you?"

Both eels grinned slyly, Sora feeling his stomach churn at how wicked their smiles looked.

"Please don't be scared," said one of the eels, while the other eel slithered around Sora's bare shoulders.

"We represent someone who can help you," said the other eel. "And they will be able to help you- more than anyone or anything."

Sora felt the tail of one of the eels rub against his shoulder and he shuddered, pushing back slightly at the unwanted feeling, "What...are you talking about?"

"Imagine this..." came the eels in unison as they coiled together. "You and Prince Riku, together in his palace, forever and ever, with pure romance every second of the day and night."

Sora's eyes widened a bit and his heart fluttered when he heard this. He swallowed thickly and wondered who this someone was who could make something as beautiful as that come true.

"Who could help me?" asked Sora.

"Larxene has great powers..." came the eels together.

Sora felt his heart sink into the dark depths of his body and he shook his head instantly, eyebrows narrowing, "The sea witch could never want to help me! I couldn't possibly go to her!" Sora had heard multiple times from his father how dangerous Larxene was and that her soul purpose was to get revenge back on Atlantica and the people who lived in it.

"Leave me alone!" Sora barked, turning away from the eels and sniffling again.

"Suit yourself," sighed one of the eels. "After all, the right thing to do is _always_ listen to Daddy."

"I suppose Prince Riku will find someone else then..." came the other eel as they slowly began to swim away.

Sora felt his whole body freeze when he heard that, eyes widening in horror. "No! Riku...he loves me..." The eels stopped and exchanged equally cruel smirks.

"D-Doesn't he?" Sora whispered, looking up at the eels. The eels slowly turned back to look at Sora, grinning evilly once more.

"More than you can imagine..." they hissed together.

Sora swallowed and stared intently at the two eels. He closed his eyes and shuddered, nodding slowly, "Take me to Larxene..."


	5. Chapter V

Sora had come to believe that no other than the sea witch, Larxene, could solve all of his problems; his problems in relation to being with Riku, and possibly something even more wonderful than that. Sora didn't know what was going to happen, but he didn't care anymore. Xemnas had just destroyed everything dear to him- even the gorgeous statue of Riku...which was probably the closest Sora would ever get to the silver-haired male.

The two slimy sea eels had Sora's full attention as they swam through the thick waters, Sora never looking back behind him where his home was. Sora didn't know what was going to happen and he didn't care...

Sora was now traveling through dark waters, the water around him growing colder. There was shadows everywhere and geysers that blew huge blasts of bubbles up into the water. Sora paused a moment when the eels traveled a bit further in the shadowy darkness and Sora could've sworn he saw something huge back in the misty waters. The eels beckoned for Sora to continue following them, which the brunette hesitantly did.

When the dark shadows had finally vanished Sora got a huge eyeful of the huge something he saw only moments ago. It was some sort of terrifying sea monster. But Sora took a moment to stare at it and then realized it was only a skeleton. Sora swallowed thickly and nearly clamped his hands over his eyes when he moved inside of the skeleton's huge jaws.

Once inside, Sora got a good look around where he swam very slowly down the throat and towards the ribcage. The bones were so thick with algae that Sora couldn't even see out of gaps between the massive bones that held the ribcage together. Sora hands were clamped tightly together in anxious nervousness as he edged further and further inside the dark and rather disgusting insides of the skeleton.

Finally, Sora had reached, apparently, the end of the passageway but only to see the most horrifying sight his blue eyes had ever laid on. There were creatures below him - ugly creatures that were dark in color and shriveled up like prunes. They were wailing out to Sora desperately and the brunette tried to swim even faster towards the end of the passageway where then Sora practically fell backwards into an actual _room._

There came a shrill, surprised yell when Sora fell against the bumpy floor. Sora blinked his eyes open and gasped gently, hurriedly hovering back up straight when he saw a very strangely interesting sight.

"Don't scare me like that!" Larxene snapped, arms folded tightly in front of her chest. "Don't you know it's rude to barge in on a woman when she's trying to make herself up?"

Sora swallowed thickly when he actually realized Larxene was naked on her upper body and that was why her arms were folded over her chest in an attempt to have them hidden from Sora's eyes. She didn't look all too embarrassed as she turned away and began to fasten something around her chest and hide her large bosom away.

Sora noticed the way Larxene moved - her lower half wasn't that of a mermaid, but an octopus. Her tentacles were long and dark, the suction cups sticking firmly to the floor as she made her way to a vanity table. Sora twiddled with his fingers in impatience and wondered what would happen next.

"Um..."

"Yes, yes, hold on a moment, would you?" Larxene barked gently as she poked and prodded at the skin on her face.

Sora did exactly how Larxene wanted him to- he held still and didn't speak until Larxene spoke to him. Larxene finally seemed to be happy with herself - happy enough, at least - in the large mirror and turned to look at Sora fully. She smiled at him and Sora felt chills run up his spine nervously when she began to swim around him in a deliberately slow circle.

"Lovely," she smiled, placing a hand on her cheek and contemplating this. "Yes, yes, sweet heart, I know it must be hard having to live down here as a dreadfully _boring _merman when the person you care deeply for and desire is up _there_, with legs on the land."

Sora's eyes glimmered excitedly when Larxene said these things. It was exactly how Sora was thinking it as Larxene threw her arms around as she talked, "And I just know exactly how to help you, dearie."

Sora's eyes widened hopefully and he smiled with a nod, "Y-Yes? You do?"

"Of course!" Larxene exclaimed triumphantly. "I am Larxene, after all...all of my spells, potions and charms could have you living on land happily with Prince Riku. It's a wonderful ending for everyone!"

Sora smiled widely, liking the sound of this as Larxene said all of these wonderful things. But Sora hesitated a moment in thought and wondered something aloud, "But...would I be able to come back here?"

"What?" Larxene questioned, sounding surprised but she stayed silent.

"W-Well...would I ever see my sisters again? Or my friend, Roxas? Or even my Dad?"

"Sweet heart," Larxene said with a sigh as she gripped Sora's chin. "If you always cling to family and friends you'll never live! Now tell me...which would you rather have, Sora...a loving husband like Prince Riku who will give you everything your heart desires? Or clingy and cruel family members?"

Sora looked away a moment in deep though and then he gasped when he heard something. It sounded like the same exact thing that happened earlier that evening, when Xemnas invaded his grotto and destroyed everything. Sora whipped around where the noise was coming from, seeing a moving light come from a large shining pearl perched on a pedestal in the middle of the large room.

Sora swam over to it and examined the pearl close up, his eyes widening when he saw the exact thing that happened earlier. He watched as Xemnas pointed his trident at the gorgeous statue of Riku, the powerful beaming light shooting out of the end and towards the statue before it shattered to pieces. Sora heard the loud and sad cry erupt from his own mouth inside the pearl.

"_DAD, NO!"_

Sora felt his breath catch in his throat when he reviewed that sad event that had just happened to him. After a few long moments of the pearl just showing Sora's crying form, the picture inside it vanished and just returned to it's image being thick and smoky.

"So tell me, Prince Sora," Larxene cooed as she swam by the saddened prince. "Do you honestly _want_ to live with people like that? When you can have someone far greater? Like this...?"

The pearl shined brighter than ever and Sora felt his heart jump in his throat when he saw no other than Prince Riku, standing out on the shore of the beach, a flute at his lips, a gentle and bitter sweet tune floating out of it. Sora whimpered timidly and felt his heart flutter when he saw just how gorgeous Riku was.

"Well? Do you want to know what I can do to help you, sweetie?" Larxene smiled.

Sora continued to watch the image of Riku in the pearl before it too eventually faded away and Sora closed his eyes, feeling them overflowing with tears. "I...I don't know what to do..."

Sora hid his face into his hands and cried silently, his shoulders trembling slightly. Larxene bit the inside of her lip and glanced over at her two eels, which were hiding quietly under a small cave and watching. Larxene rolled her blue eyes and placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, leaning in close to the chocolate-haired boy.

"Listen, angelfish...I'll give you a little _time_...how about that?" Larxene smirked, squeezing Sora's shoulder a little tightly.

Sora looked up at the golden-haired sea witch and blinked his blue eyes nervously in wonder, "T-Time?"

"Yes, time," Larxene said, pulling away with her back facing Sora. "I'll give you two days to think about this offer I'm giving you. I'm willing to make a spell for you that will have you in the arms of Prince Riku within hours. If you do not return by the third morning then I will know for certain that you do not want my help." Larxene gave a dramatic sigh and placed her arm over her eyes and wailed gently a moment. "If I were you, sweetie, I would take my offer...because everyone who has come to me has been fully satisfied..."

Larxene heard her eels snigger quietly behind her and she shot them death-defying glares as Sora thought about this. The brunette wiped at his eyes and then looked back at Larxene, "Okay...I'll think about it. Truly, I will."

Larxene smiled smugly and nodded her head, "You do that, sweetie..."

"Th-Thank you..." Sora said with a little bow before he hurried off.

Once Larxene knew Sora was gone for sure, her smile quickly faded into an angry scowl, "Damn that little spoiled BRAT, why couldn't he just KNOW?" Larxene then proceeded to grab a large bottle off a large shelf and threw it across the room, the glass shattering and a misty purple liquid pouring out of it the moment it broke.

Larxene gave a deep heaving breath, her face in her hands. After a moment, she slowly slid her hands away from her face and smiled widely, "Knowing that lovesick boy...if I get him to see Riku multiple times he'll be back here before it's even the third day..."

Sora had returned to the palace in Atlantica. He noticed Roxas down one of the long corridors and as quick as he could swim, Sora practically tackled the blond, giving Roxas nearly a heart attack when Sora clung so tightly to him and cried gently.

"Oh, Roxas...I'm so sorry!" Sora exclaimed, earning a confused look from Roxas. "I hope I didn't make you upset or angry when I said I just wanted to be alone back there."

Roxas stared down at Sora and offered a small smile, petting the brunette's head, "Sora- sometimes people need to be alone to deal with problems... It should be me who is saying I'm sorry...because I really am. If I had just shown you the statue some other time you would be so much more happy right now."

Sora smiled weakly and rubbed at his eyes, "It's okay, Roxas... I'll be o-okay..."

Sora caught movement out of the corner of his eye when he saw no other than Axel hesitantly edging closer and closer towards the two young mermen. Sora instantly scowled at the redhead and turned his nose up at him. Roxas looked over his shoulder and did the same exact thing - but it was more of a much heavier glare than Sora's little scowl before the two of them swam off together.

Axel sighed deeply and crossed his arms, "God, Sora...I'm sorry...I wonder if he'll ever forgive me..."

That night, Sora couldn't sleep too well. He rolled around in his bed and thought about what Larxene had said- about how he only had two days to figure out what he truly wanted. She was right about everything...it was just that Sora was so scared to do anything in fear that he might get into even _worse_ trouble than before.

Sora stared up through the window right next to his bed where he could see the surface of the water where he could see the full moon shining brightly. Sora closed his eyes and tried to relax and he thought only about the beautiful form of Riku- of his lovely silver hair, his strong frame, and those mesmerizing turquoise eyes he had...

At these thoughts that entered Sora's head the brunette was finally able to drift off, finally seeing himself falling into Riku's arms and nuzzling into him.

The next day came quickly and Sora barely spent any time in the palace. He avoided his father, sisters and especially Axel at all costs. He was only with Roxas the whole time. That is until Roxas had to leave himself when his mother called him back to clean his room. Sora was alone and being alone felt terrible to the brunette.

Even though Xemnas had told Sora not to go to the surface, the brunette went anyways. Sora had perched himself on a rock that was still close to the deep parts of the sea but close enough to where he could see the shore. Sora sighed as he rested his chin against his forearms as he imagined himself and Riku running and laughing on the beach. It was a wonderful thought and Sora smiled at it and closed his eyes.

"Heya, Sora!"

Sora flinched harshly and tumbled off into the water when he heard that loud voice. It caused him to deep breath for a moment before he traveled back up to the surface and noticed no other than Marluxia sitting in the exact same spot he just was, a perky little smile on his face.

"H-Hey, Marluxia..." Sora muttered.

"So what's up, my friend?" Marluxia smiled as Sora situated himself on the rock next to the pink-haired merman.

"N-Nothing, really..." Sora replied quietly as he stared longingly at the beach again.

Marluxia drummed his fingers against his arm as he watched Sora stare out at the shore unblinkingly and he smirked slightly, shaking his head, "What on earth has got you so transfixed, Sora?"

"Huh?" Sora spoke absent-mindedly and glanced at Marluxia. "Oh...nothing... I'm just-- oh my gosh, Marluxia, look!"

Marluxia blinked and stared forward immediately when Sora said that, finding his eyes were looking around crazily for what Sora was indicating. "What, Sora? Look at what?"

"That!" Sora gasped softly, grabbing the side of Marluxia's head and aimed it exactly at the moving form of no other than Riku on the beach.

Sora's heart was pounding, eyes wide as saucers as he stared at the beautiful prince on the shore. Riku wasn't alone- he had the company of the huge Olde English Sheepdog with him, the happy dog trotting next to the prince, her tongue lolling in and out of her mouth.

"Focus, Maxine," Riku spoke, rubbing the dog's head gently. "See if you can find anything interesting..."

Sora tilted his head to the side when he heard Riku say this and he wondered if Riku was actually talking about _him_ or not. Riku continued to try and get Maxine hyped up to go on a sniffing hunt to try and find _something_, but she never seemed to find the energy or want to do so. All she wanted to do was play with Riku.

"I think...Riku is trying to look...for _me..."_

Marluxia cocked his head in wonder and looked back at Riku himself, "You sure? Maybe he's just looking for a lost girlfriend or something. Or maybe--" Marluxia blinked when he looked next to Sora and noticed that he wasn't there anymore. Marluxia looked around quickly for the brunette before he dived back into the water himself. Marluxia immediately noticed Sora swimming quickly back down towards the reef where he slowly sat down on a long rock.

Marluxia slowly swam down next to the brunette and sat down next to him, "Sora, you okay?"

Sora sniffled slightly, "He was...looking for me...I know he was..." Sora reached up to rub at his eyes a moment and he lifted his head back up, a determined expression on his face. "I...I have to have Riku find me...and...I will..."

Marluxia looked highly confused by this and decided it wasn't his place to question it as Sora swam away from him again. Marluxia scratched his head in wonder before he shrugged and swam back to the surface himself.

Sora wasn't going to wait until the third morning to go back and see Larxene. He had already made up his mind. He was going to go tomorrow morning before everyone had woken up. Sora acted normal that rest of the day - hanging out with Roxas, avoiding Xemnas and Axel - until the night time had returned. Sora didn't mention his plan to go back and see Larxene again, because he had no doubt that Roxas would try and stop Sora and Sora didn't want that. That was why the last hours he spent with Roxas he made sure that they were fun and good...in case Sora wouldn't ever see him again.

As Sora curled up in his spongy bed, he licked his lips in nervous anticipation for the morning to come so he could sneak out and go to Larxene. Sora was so fidgety and nervous while he was in his bed, squirming around uncomfortably and trying to get some sleep, the night seeming to go by so very slowly. Sora had finally managed to get some rest until he had woken just at the right time of the morning.

It was still dark in the water so Sora knew it had to be around five or so. Sora swallowed nervously as he began to swim away from the palace as quietly as he could. He was doing quite a good job of keeping quiet as he finally managed to get out of the palace with a deep sigh.

But even if Sora thought he was alone, he wasn't. He had caught the eye of no other than Axel who was watching from a high balcony of the palace.

"What is he doing?" Axel murmured to himself as he leaned far over the railing. "It's way too early..." Without taking his eyes off Sora, Axel quickly and silently pursued the brunette into the still-dark waters.

One thing Sora was rather nervous about was Roxas- he passed by the blond's home on the way to get to Larxene's hideout and Sora knew Roxas well that the boy got up in the early mornings to go out and search for food for his elderly grandmother who woke up an hour before the sun would rise.

But as Sora slowly passed his friend's home, he was extra cautious as he passed by, but he gave a deep sigh once he had successfully gotten out of view from the home. Axel, however, was in quick pursuit and he gave a little cry of surprise when he realized he had run right into somebody. It _was_ no other than Roxas, awake and holding two large clam shells under each arm.

"Sheesh, what's your deal?" Roxas growled as he rubbed his forehead.

Axel blinked when he realized it was Roxas he had run into and he hurriedly said, "My deal is Sora- he's going somewhere and I don't know where he's going."

"Wh-what?" Roxas stammered, gasping when Axel turned the blond facing forward to where Roxas could clearly see Sora vanishing over the top of an underwater hill. "Where _is_ he going?"

"I don't know...but I'm gonna find out..." Axel said with a determined stare as he began to chase after Sora. Roxas wanted to know as well as he quickly placed down the huge clam shells next to his home and hurriedly followed after Axel himself.

Sora had no idea that Axel and Roxas were following him, his mind only intent on getting back to Larxene's home and agreeing to the sea witch's offer...whatever it was. He remembered the location to get to there- it was pretty easy, all he needed to do was go straight towards the dark waters.

Soon enough, Sora had swam right into the shadowy darkness, staring straight forward until he made out the giant form of the skeleton monster. Axel and Roxas were still following close behind, and the two of them were getting highly afraid as of now. Why was Sora _here_? Of all places this was the last place Axel thought Sora would be going. What was the boy up to? What could possibly be lurking in these dark waters?

Sora arrived at the opening of Larxene's home and he easily slipped inside. Axel and Roxas were quite hesitant to go inside, but Roxas had finally gotten the guts to go in, and Axel nearly had to close his eyes before he traveled inside as well. The corridors were dark and horrid- covered in thick substances that neither Axel or Roxas wanted to know. They continued to swim down it until they reached the end themselves, both mermen's eyes widening when they saw the terribly hideous creatures below them. They wailed and moaned horribly and tried to grab at their wrists, but luckily both mermen had made it safe to the end.

"Shh!" Axel shushed quietly and pulled Roxas close next to him where they hid quietly behind a wall. They could clearly hear what was going on, and both of them slowly leaned over to peek around and see for their own eyes.

"Oh, I'm so, so, sooo glad you decided to come back, Sora!" Larxene cried happily. "I'm so flattered you decided to take up my offer!"

Axel's eyes widened and his mouth fell open in shock when he saw Sora speaking with no other than the sea witch Larxene- Axel knowing himself that she was terribly bad news.

"Okay...I'm here to stay, Larxene..." Sora muttered nervously. "What can you do to help me? I need to know...I saw Riku yesterday and...he was looking for me...I just know he was..."

"Well, of course he was," Larxene smirked. "After all, you saved his life. If I were him I would be truly wanting to know who saved _my_ life, so it's perfectly normal for him to be searching for you."

Sora nodded his head in agreement and fiddled with his fingers again as he watched Larxene plunder around in a large open clam shell that was supposed to be a shelf or cupboard.

"So? What can you do?" Sora asked with a dry throat.

Larxene chuckled lowly, "Well...I can turn you into a human, how about that? Is that a good idea?"

Sora's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he heard Larxene say this to him. He was speechless...could Larxene really do something that incredible?

"You can do something like that...?" Sora whispered. "Turn me...into a human?"

Larxene scoffed irritably and placed a hand on her hip as she turned to look back at Sora, "Well, yeah, duh, of course I can! I'm Larxene! The greatest sea witch alive." Larxene chuckled deeply again and returned to Sora's side, placing a hand on the boy's shoulders as she edged him closer and closer to her cauldron in the middle of the room next to the large pearl.

"Listen to me carefully, alright?" Larxene murmured. "This is very important. For this spell to properly work you've got to follow my instructions exactly as I say them." Sora nodded anxiously and listened hard. "Now, Sora, I am going to make a spell that will turn you into a human for three days. Now that's three days _only_! During those three days while you're on land you will have to find Prince Riku and have him fall in love with you, okay?"

Sora's heart fluttered hard in his chest and he nodded. It would be easy...he hoped anyways. Especially when he told Riku it was him who saved his life.

"But of course he can't just _fall in love_ with you, in case you don't KNOW or anything!" Larxene laughed heartily. "He's got to kiss you, Sora. But it can't just be some simple ordinary, yada-dada kiss, you know like a first date kind of thing...it's got to be the kiss of true love."

Axel and Roxas were still listening strongly around the opposite wall, able to hear everything quite clearly, and Roxas winced when he felt Axel's hand gripping Roxas's upper arm quite tightly as his emerald eyes watched the two of them around the wall.

Sora swallowed the lump in his throat as Larxene explained all of this. Would he really be able to get Riku to fall in love with him in only three days?

"There's more," Larxene continued. "Listen, okay? Now, if Riku does kiss you before the sun sets on the third day, well then..." Larxene chuckled, highly amused by this. "You'll be a human for the rest of your life. You'll stay on land with Riku until the day you die."

Sora's eyes were wide and a small smile was forming at his lips, "A human forever with Riku?" Sora found his cheeks blushing and he giggled very quietly.

"It's great, isn't it?" Larxene smiled widely. "Okay, but listen there's still more, Sora..." Sora looked back up at Larxene with slight dread in his eyes because he had a feeling there would be a catch.

"If Prince Riku _doesn't_ kiss you before the third day..." Larxene spoke with her eyes closed before she opened them and stared directly into Sora's eyes. "Then you will belong to me."

Axel clenched his hand into a fist when he heard Larxene say that, gritting his teeth angrily, and he couldn't hold back anymore as he suddenly thrust forward into the open and yelled out, "Don't do this, Sora! She's lying to you!"

Sora gasped in surprise when he saw Axel appear with Roxas, blinking his eyes in wonder but before Axel and Roxas could say anything else, Larxene's eels appeared and tied their long tails around both Axel and Roxas so both males' backs were pressed tightly together, and then lastly both the ends of the eel's tails slapped over Axel and Roxas's mouths to silence anymore words that dared to come out.

Sora stared at Axel and Roxas until Larxene gently turned Sora to face her again, "So? Do we have a deal, Sora?"

Sora took a deep breath and looked down, glancing back at the two males over his shoulder and seeing their eyes pleading for Sora to not agree with it. Sora turned back to look at Larxene and nodded his head, "Yes..."

"Perfect!" Larxene squealed, clapping her hands together. "Oh, wait a minute...I forgot to mention a crucial little something..."

Sora blinked and tilted his head to the side in wonder of what Larxene was talking about. "What?"

"Well, it's payment of course," Larxene giggled rather mischievously. "You can't _get_ something for nothing, ya know!"

"What do you want? I-I'll give you anything!" Sora said desperately, eyes wide. "A-Anything at all..."

Larxene smirked and pressed the tips of her fingers together when Sora said this, "It's really nothing, Sora, it's such a trifle... The only itty bitty hardly needed simple little thing I want from you is your voice."

Sora paused and lifted a hand to the base of his throat and gulped nervously, "My voice?"

"Yep!" Larxene chirped. "No more singing, talking, humming, moaning, screaming, or anything else that associates with your vocal chords."

"B-But wait a second..." Sora muttered. "Without my voice how can I even tell Riku it was me who saved his life?"

Larxene pursed her lips and rolled her eyes when Sora wasn't looking, "Sora, it won't be that hard! Come on, you've got your cute little face and adorable little body that no man will ignore. Honestly, have you ever heard of body language?"

Sora didn't say anything- he didn't know _what_ to say. Besides, he really couldn't say anything as Larxene continued to talk about how much men hated to be talked to by boys, not only that but he watched as Larxene began to prepare the spell and or potion inside her massive cauldron. She threw all sorts of different things inside of the cauldron, and poured strange substances into it that made Sora's nose wrinkle.

The liquid inside of the cauldron was crackling and sparkling like a firework, huge puffs of smoke billowing out around them, while lightning bolts striked through the clouds of blue smoke. Sora felt Larxene's hand brush against his arm and she had handed him a feather pen.

"I need you to sign something for me..." Larxene murmured in Sora's ear. "Just to make sure we have a true bargain." Larxene snapped her fingers and in an instant and golden scroll had appeared in front of Sora- a shining, glowing contract that had so many words on it. Sora read down the long contract, not reading every word because there were so many, but he reached the bottom where he saw where he was supposed to sign his name.

Sora held the feather pen carefully in his hand. He could feel Axel and Roxas's eyes on him, but he ignored them and quickly wrote his name down onto the contract, long and slightly messy letters reading _Sora._

Larxene chuckled behind a closed mouth and grabbed the contract, the scroll disappearing when she touched it. "What a good boy you are..." Larxene licked the bottom of her lip and hovered over her cauldron where she began to speak long words, and Sora knew she was speaking incantations, gasping out when he saw that the cauldron was reacting to Larxene's words. The liquid inside was bubbling greatly and Sora's eyes widened when he watched as two huge hands appeared out of the liquid, in smoke behind Larxene.

Larxene stared straight at Sora and she smirked, eyes narrowed and she pointed at him, "Sing!"

Sora did as he was told, his mouth open as he began to sing a gentle little tune that floated out of his throat. The massive hands that were behind Larxene moved forward and they suddenly pushed right into Sora's mouth, the sound of Sora's voice still floating through the air. Something glimmered inside Sora's chest, a golden little something that traveled all the way up his throat and out of his mouth, the sound of Sora's singing voice emitting from the little glowing ball that the giant hands were now holding.

The glowing golden ball floated right into a nautilus shell necklace that Larxene was wearing. She gave a great low laugh before she pointed straight at the potion and it began to act much differently. A huge and thick bubble suddenly sprang out from it and was heading right towards Sora.

Axel's eyes widened when he saw this and immediately took matters into his own hands. He gave a great and hard bite on the end of the eel's tail, and it gave a sharp cry and instantly released Axel. The redhead valiantly swam as fast as he could towards Sora, reaching the boy and grabbing his wrist, intending on pulling him away but suddenly, the huge golden brown bubble had engulfed not only Sora but Axel as well.

Roxas watched with horrifying eyes as the bubble began to spark and Roxas could only see the outlines of Sora and Axel's mermaid bodies, and then, Roxas's heart leapt up into his throat when he watched both of their fins split into a pair of legs.

Instantly once that had happened, the bubble popped and Roxas could very clearly see both Sora and Axel's realization when they tried to breathe but couldn't. Roxas moved, swimming quickly forward and grabbing one of Sora's arms and one of Axel's arms, and with great strength began to swim as fast as he could to the surface.

Once there, all three of them sprang against the surface and took in a deep breath of air.

"Sora, Axel, are you okay?" Roxas spoke immediately.

"Ye-Yeah...I think so..." Axel said rather sluggishly. "I need to sit down..."

"We'll get to the shore in a second..." Roxas said. "Sora, are you okay?"

Sora went to say something but no words came out and his eyes widened when he suddenly remembered that he had given up his voice for legs. The three of them swam quickly to the shore and, even though Sora couldn't talk or breathe underwater anymore, he wanted to see his legs more than anything...


	6. Chapter VI

-1Prince Riku sighed where he sat on the sandy shores of the beach that was right next to his elaborate white palace a little ways off. His aqua-marine eyes were focused on the foamy sea, where the waves crashed against the sand before rolling back out into the sea again. Riku had been playing his flute for some time now, a little bittersweet tune that reminded him of the day where he almost died because of the ship capsizing from the storm. He remembered those amazing blue eyes staring down at him, the gorgeous male's form leaning above him and silhouetted by the orange sunlight. And then his voice... That super sweet to-die-for voice that was like a little song to Riku's ears it was so perfect.

Riku pushed a hand through his silver tresses and looked down to the canine laying next to him, her eyes staring lazily out at the sea. Riku smiled and reached down to stroke her head a moment, "I bet you must think I'm crazy? Still thinking about who saved my life, right, Maxine?"

Maxine looked up at Riku and woofed a moment, giving a gleeful little smile and wagging her tail. Riku heaved another sigh and continuing running his fingers through Maxine's white and gray fur. The prince took one more look out at the sea before rising to his feet, Maxine jumping to her feet and wagging her whole back end.

"Let's head back, good girl..." Riku murmured, gesturing for Maxine to follow him as he began slowly strolling back to his huge castle nearby.

With a great effort, Sora, Axel and Roxas had managed to swim to the shore to rest heavily against large smooth rocks and sit in the shallows where they were most comfortable. It was mostly hard for Sora and Axel- they had no idea how to use their new legs, let alone swim with them.

Roxas panted heavily as he laid on his back in the barely ankle deep water, chest rising and falling. Axel did the same, except for when he went to fall back his back fell right onto one of the smooth rocks and thus bent his spine in a very awkward position. He groaned and sat up irritably.

Sora panted softly, brushing some chocolate brown spikes away from his blue eyes and then looked down at his knees. At his knees! Sora's heart leapt into his throat when he saw his brand new legs, and he slowly lifted one up out of the where his eyes landed on the form of his _foot_. Sora was smiling so widely and his eyes were shining like two crystals. Sora then proceeded to wiggle his toes, and Sora would've squealed with joy if it hadn't been he lost his voice.

Axel was watching Sora the whole time he examined his new legs. Axel looked down at his own pair of human legs and actually cringed. Slowly, Axel brought one of his own legs up, emerald eyes scanning over his skinny leg and then down to his own foot where he then wiggled his toes just like Sora. Axel didn't squeal, he grabbed at his head and screamed.

"I can't believe this!"

Roxas blinked and sat up to look at Axel with wide eyes.

"Would you LOOK at this!" Axel cried, gesturing maniacally to his human legs. "I HAVE LEGS! Oh my god! This is so bad! The King will most definitely have my head for sure, and he'll snap off these legs of mine and eat them just like crab legs!"

"Axel, calm down!" Roxas said fiercely. "Look, this is gonna be okay, you understand?"

Axel was trembling harshly, "N-No, no, it's not gonna be okay, do YOU understand me? Just LOOK at Sora! On legs! On HUMAN legs!"

"Hey you guys!"

All three males glanced behind them to see no other than Marluxia swimming quickly towards them until he was up in the shallows along with them. Marluxia giggled happily and sat next to Sora, absent-mindly patting his new legs with a big grin on his face.

"Look at you, Sora, you look so happy!" Marluxia grinned. "Hmm, you look a bit different! I can totally figure this out, though!" Sora bit his bottom lip with a giddy smile on his lips as Marluxia inspected Sora from top to bottom.

"It's your hair," Marluxia stated. "You've been using the dinglehopper, haven't ya!"

Sora simply smiled with a pink tint on his cheeks and shook his head. Axel looked ready to burst and Roxas actually found the situation kind of amusing.

"Lemme think..." Marluxia sighed, staring straight at Sora's legs while he pondered. "Oh, you tanned your skin! That's it, isn't it?"

Sora shook his head giddily again. "No new tan... Okay, I can get this!" Marluxia patted Sora's legs in a rhythmatic way to waste time while he continued trying to figure out what was different about Sora.

"It's on the tip of my tongue, I swear!" Marluxia exclaimed while Sora began bobbing his leg back and forth. "I think I'll figure it out with a little bit more tim-"

"HE'S GOT LEGS!" Axel roared, face a bit red. "You IDIOT!"

Marluxia immediately blinked and jerked back, blue eyes landing on Sora's skinny legs in a shocking discovery. Axel was acting like a raging mad little child and had to be calmed down by Roxas again.

"He traded his mermaid fins to get some human legs to the sea witch," Axel groaned. "Jeez!"

Marluxia simply smirked and shrugged, "I knew that... I was just playing around..."

Sora was going to try and stand. The brunette placed his palms squarely against the sandy floor underneath the water and wobbly stood up. All three males watched Sora with a sort of fascination as Sora stood very precariously on his feet.

"Why don't you try standing, Axel?" Roxas asked.

Axel had no desire to try and _stand_ but decided it was probably for the best. Axel did the same exact thing as Sora, pressing his palms down against the ground to give him the right push to stand himself up. Axel was twice as precarious as Sora was, but they were doing a pretty good job in standing on legs they had never used before, so Roxas and Marluxia applauded them.

"Whoa, wait a second!" Axel cried, noticing something. "Our privates are on the _outside_ of the body now?"

"Wow!" Marluxia said laughingly. "Cool!" Marluxia actually went to go and touch Axel but the redhead jerked away from the pink-haired merman and thus proceeded to fall over, creating a large splash and soaking everyone. Because of this, Sora fell as well, a look of panic on his face as he tumbled in the water and got everyone soaked again - Marluxia's hair was covered in seaweed.

"Oh my god this beginning to scare me..." Axel said severely like he was about to have a break down. "This is REALLY bad! Like, I'm beginning to hyperventilate over here! This is a complete disaster you guys! I-I mean, Sora's father is going to absolutely EXPLODE! The whole SEA will turn into a twister from the King's anger!" Axel buried his face into his hands and deep breathed a moment.

"I can't even begin to think what he'll say!" Axel cried. "I-I mean yeah, he'll kill me first and THEN say something, but-but-but! Agh! I can't handle this! Marluxia, Roxas, you better go straight down to the King and tell him what is happened like how we should have in the first place!"

Sora gasped the moment Axel said this, shaking his head desperately at all three of them while Axel continued to talk non-stop.

"Don't shake your head at me!" Axel barked, pointing at Sora. "Wait! Maybe! Just maybe we could get like...A REFUND!" Axel acted like this was the most brilliant idea in the world and looked like he had just discovered something totally amazing.

"We could go back to Larxene and maybe she'll give you back your voice and then we can go home with all the NORMAL fish!"

Sora shook his head again, eyes wide in a desperate attempt to beckon Axel otherwise. He would've been talking profusely to the redhead if he had his voice, but all he could reason Axel with was his expression and his eyes.

"Yeah, we gotta try it!" Axel said, still a little panicky. "Roxas, Marluxia you guys can go, okay? It'll totally work, okay?" There was another loud splash and Axel flinched and felt his skin turn into gooseflesh when he felt Sora's arms wrap tightly around the redhead's naked midsection. Axel slowly turned his head to look down at Sora who's face was pressing right into Axel's waist while he shook his head crazily back and forth.

"A-And just..." Axel muttered, going to continue his rant but stopping slowly. "And just be..." Sora looked up at Axel with big sky blue eyes that were misty with tears. Axel felt a lump come to his throat and a twinge of pitiful guilt run through his body.

Axel sighed and placed a hand to his cheek and shook his head, "And just be miserable for the rest of your life..."

Axel had to look away from Sora's saddened puppy-dog face, sighing in defeat and nodding his head. Sora watched the redhead carefully until Axel finally spoke.

"Okay... I'll help you out the best I can, Sora..."

Sora's eyes lit up with pure joy, a big grin covering his face and he suddenly planted a big smooch right on Axel's cheek, causing the three other males to stare a bit wide-eyed at Sora. Marluxia nudged Roxas in the side and whispered, "I thought Sora liked that Riku guy-"

"He does!" Roxas whispered back, very annoyed.

When Sora pulled away from his twenty-second long kiss on Axel's cheek, he stood and began to practice walking again. It was safe to say that Axel's eyes looked very dead, "I'm turning into such a softie..."

"Okay, I wanna help, too!" Marluxia said confidently, smacking a hand to his bare torso. "But...ah...can somebody tell me what's actually going on here?"

"Long story short, Sora went to the sea witch, Larxene, and traded his voice for a pair of legs so he could try and get Prince Riku to fall in love with Sora, and in three days, too. And _in_ those three days Riku's got to kiss Sora otherwise Sora will be Larxene's property," explained Roxas with a deep breath. "So we're here to watch over Sora and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble and get Riku to try and kiss Sora without actually _telling_ Riku what's going on here."

"Got'cha," Marluxia smiled with a thumbs up.

"AND WE'VE ONLY GOT THREE DAYS!" Axel cried, going mad again as he grabbed at his fiery red hair.

"I already mentioned that part!" spat Roxas.

"Okay, I know a way I can help!" Marluxia said with his finger in the air. "Sora, you can't just go out into the human world without any clothes on, you gotta dress like a human, too! Now, I can totally help you out here!"

Sora watched Marluxia as he actually dragged himself up onto the shore near a large pile of broken ship pieces, which included lots of wood, a mast, and rope...

Riku had almost reached his palace again when he noticed that Maxine wasn't following him anymore. The silver-haired male turned around to see Maxine sniffing the air with her big black nose until she suddenly began barking very excitedly.

"What is it, Maxine?" Riku asked as she began hopping around and barking back in the direction they came from. "What is it, girl?"

But Maxine suddenly bolted off in the direction she was barking at, woofing constantly while Riku gasped and quickly hurried after her. "Maxine!"

"Perfect, Sora!" Marluxia smiled proudly while he inspected Sora where he sat in the shallows still with Axel and Roxas. "You look great, you look sensational!"

Either Marluxia was over exaggerating to make Sora happy, or he was a complete idiot, because Sora didn't look very 'sensational'. Marluxia had put Sora in the mast he found on the sand moments ago and tied it with the rope to the boy's lower half in a very unattractive way.

"It looks kind of embarrassing..." Axel murmured, pressing a hand to his forehead.

"Shut up, Axel, you're next," Marluxia said, still smiling.

But before Axel couldn't complain about wearing 'clothes' similar to that of Sora, there was a loud noise that scared the living daylights out of all four of the males. Movement caught Sora's eyes as a huge fluffy gray and white sheepdog appeared from around the huge rock wall, barking excitedly and bounding straight towards Sora.

Axel promptly cried out in surprise and actually dove back towards the water, getting quite a surprise when he breathed underneath the water and choked. Roxas managed to jerk Axel back up from the water and pull him behind some large rocks where Marluxia waited.

"You can't breathe underwater anymore!" Roxas whispered frantically to Axel, who was still coughing a bit.

Sora, however, had also been frightened by the huge burly dog that was hopping up and down woofing at him. Sora had found refuge on a large rock on the sandy beach, climbing up onto it to escape from the barking sheepdog.

"Maxine! Where'd you go!"

Sora blinked when he heard that voice, looking up with wide sky blue eyes as he saw yet more movement appear from behind the rock wall. Maxine woofed perkily and hurried over to the silver-haired prince who was panting slightly from having to chase down a big dog like Maxine.

"What has gotten into you?" Riku murmured as Maxine obediently returned to him. "Seriously, what on _earth_ got you so worked up-" Riku had finally looked up, seeing the culprit that Maxine was after. No other than a small chocolate-haired boy with big blue eyes and a pretty smile to match.

"H-Hey..." murmured Riku calmly as he slowly approached Sora.

Sora was smiling a bit, feeling like he had to fix his hair and what not, but that was the last thing on Riku's mind.

"Are you okay? I hope she didn't scare you too bad," Riku said kindly. "She hardly ever disobeys me like tha-" It was right then Riku noticed that Sora was simply staring at the prince with a sweet grin on his slightly tan skin.

Riku cocked an eyebrow at this mysterious brown-haired boy and his eyes narrowed a bit. Who was this kid? And why was he so strangely out on the beach in nothing but an old mast? Not only that but he wasn't even speaking.

"Have we met before?" Riku asked out bluntly.

Sora immediately nodded, enthusiastically at that, eyes as big as his smile. Maxine woofed excitedly, trying to get in the middle of all of it but Riku gently pushed her away and focused his attention back on Sora.

"So we _have_ met," Riku said, his aqua-marine eyes glittering. "A-Are you...are you the one I've been looking for? All this time?" Sora continued nodding excitedly. This would be so easy! Even without a voice!

"What's your name?" Riku asked.

Sora instantly went to go and speak, his lips forming his name but no sound came out. There was a slight awkward pause, but a more sad one on Sora's part as he rubbed at his throat absently.

"What's the matter?" Riku asked, eyeing Sora rubbing his throat. "Can you not speak?" Sora sighed and shook his head, blue eyes staring sadly down at the white sand below.

"O-Oh..." Riku sighed, looking away himself. "I guess I was wrong then... You couldn't be who I thought you were..."

Sora looked away miserably again, almost feeling his eyes become a bit misty. Sora misjudged this whole situation- it _would_ be harder than it seemed.

"Hey, why don't you come with me, anyways?" Riku asked, a bit of silver in his eyes. "You look like you maybe went through something... You're stranded out here, aren't you? I'll be more than happy to give you some new clothes, some good food and a bed to sleep in."

Sora nodded his head enthusiastically again, so hard in fact that he began slipping down the front of the rock and actually began tumbling off. Riku gasped and leapt forward, catching the brunette before he could fall and hurt himself. Sora looked up at Riku as the older prince held him securely in his arms, the brunette's heart fluttering for a second at how close they were together, even their bangs were touching.

"You okay?" Riku asked kindly. "C'mon, let's go back to my castle, you're probably starving."

Then, Riku began to lead Sora back to his castle, however Sora looked back over his shoulder to see if Axel, Roxas and Marluxia had been watching. They had, and each of their expressions were different. Marluxia looked very happy and held a thumbs up to Sora. Roxas simply smiled and waved goodbye to the brown-haired male, while Axel waved as well but didn't smile.

"I'm gonna need to get into that castle, too," Axel grumbled once Riku and Sora were out of ear-shot. "I can't very well stay in the water the whole time... I need to watch over Sora."

"Okay, then, let's get you in some fine clothes then, Axel!" Marluxia grinned happily. Axel groaned and began stepping up on the land to get some clothes on his body as well...

The walk back to Riku's castle was a very short one, but when Sora finally stepped foot into the amazing palace, the brunette felt as if he had fallen into a fairytale, even if he _was_ a merman. Upon seeing Riku's new guest, Vexen was the first to actually look rather surprised by this. The stiff blond man continued to watch Sora like a hawk, thinking he was just some ship wreck garbage and that Riku shouldn't be wasting his time on him. Besides, Riku deliberately said that whoever had rescued him was speaking to Riku, so this couldn't be them.

Riku was compassionate, though, and could tell that Sora needed caring to and immediately handed Sora off to the super kind maid, Aerith. Sora had never met a more nice woman in his life - all the women he knew were his sisters and they weren't exactly the nicest people in the world.

First, Aerith prepared a bath for Sora, he smelled greatly of sea water, and seriously wanted to dispose of those ship sails that acted as an outfit for Sora.

"Poor little thing..." Aerith murmured as Sora stared wide-eyed at the massive soapy bubbles in the massive bath tub he sat in. "I bet it was pretty stressful, wasn't it? We assume you washed up from a ship wreck... But we'll take good care of you, dear."

Sora actually flinched in surprise when his index finger poked one of the shiny bubbles and it popped into about a dozen smaller bubbles. Sora was finding this way too fun as he continued making more bubbles by splashing.

"I'll be sure to get you some nice proper garments for your handsome self," Aerith smiled as Sora enjoyed him. Sora looked up at Aerith and smiled gratefully at her and giving a nod.

"Hmm, what a sincere little boy you are," Aerith smiled as she went to step away to take charge in another chore.

Meanwhile, outside, Axel was desperately finding away to sneak into Riku's palace without getting spotted. Axel was now in Marluxia's fashion like Sora, however his just covering his lower half and looking like it was going to slip off at any given time. Now, it would be quite bad for someone to spot Axel because he could actually talk and he might spill his guts about everything and probably break the three day contract Sora had with Larxene. So Axel had to lie low and try and find some random window to climb into and then find wherever Sora would be staying and just hide out there the whole time.

Tip-toeing carefully around to the back of the palace, the red-haired 'human' caught whiff of something very cleanly foul. It turned out to be about seven female maids doing laundry outside in a huge tub of soapy water before hanging them up on a clothes line.

"So I hear that Prince Riku just _found_ that kid out of nowhere!" said one of the young women. "I mean, not that I'm upset or anything, it's just that...ya know, why can't he be a blond? A boy with blond hair would look so much better with Riku!"

"What're you joking?" came another young lady, her golden tresses falling into her eyes where they had slipped out of the cloth holding her hair back. "Brown hair fits him perfectly."

"Won't it be totally adorable if they get married?" squealed another girl. "I mean, after all, Prince Riku needs to lay back with a sweet kid like that with him, ya know!"

All of the other young women instantly agreed and began squealing some more. Axel had a strangely infatuated look on his face, but also extreme disturbance of these women finding it sweet for two males to be together. Whatever the case, Axel needed to get inside and quickly.

Then...he saw it. That god send of an open window. Axel practically dove at it. His finger tips latched onto the window sill and, with great strength, Axel managed to heave himself up over the sill and then literally somersault inside the room and land right on his rear end with a grunt.

"Oww..." groaned Axel as he rubbed his lower back and went to stand.

Axel's emerald eyes surveyed the room, and it took no later than two seconds before Axel felt like he had fallen into the pits of hell.

It was a kitchen. And on nearly every surface was a platter of fish, very sharp looking butcher's knives, and then Axel nearly gagged when he saw a fish fin, that looked _exactly_ like his fin back when he was a merman, hanging out of the side of a huge pot of boiling water.

Axel nearly fainted, but tried to keep his cool as he suddenly heard a voice.

"Delicious! Absolutely scrumptious!"

It was the chef, a tall and well built blond with slight facial hair and a smug look on his lips. He was stirring what look like salmon stew and was taking a sip.

"Oh, my! It's just divine!" he wailed as he gave a twirl of happiness.

Terrified, Axel dove behind a counter near a large can that was filled with fish heads. Axel felt his stomach drop and he crawled desperately away, still behind the counters. All while he crawled, he could hear the chef doing all sorts of insanely torturous and disgusting things in the main kitchen room. He saw the shadow of the man on the wall holding a huge knife and chopping frantically away at a large tuna before tossing it's organs inside a pot of water.

Axel felt like he was going to retch at any given moment where he still crawled behind the counters, getting only God knew what on his hands and knees. Not to mention he was scared out of his mind of getting caught by said chef and getting chopped up into pieces with his huge butcher knives.

Finally, Axel saw refuge as the very last bit of counter ended and straight ahead was an open door that lead down a welcoming corridor. Axel had no idea where or what the chef was doing, but Axel was just going to run for it.

With a panicked and scared whimper, Axel jumped to his feet and dashed towards the open corridor, going as fast as his new human legs would allow him.

The chef, Luxord, blinked when he heard the patter of feet against the tile floor and turned to look in the direction in which it came from. Nothing there, back to cooking.

"You know, Riku, I um...think you may be thinking about this mysterious 'boy' who rescued from the ship wreck...you know...a little too much..."

"I'm telling you, Vexen, he was really there! He saved my life and was speaking to me!" Riku snapped back to the frustrated old man. "And...I'm gonna find him..."

Riku and Vexen were standing in the dining room, the silver-haired prince looking out a vast window that was the entire wall practically and seeing the amazing ocean below. Vexen sighed a bit and shook his head, finding that Riku was speaking utter nonsense. He maybe have drunk a bit too much sea water when he fell off the ship...

"Prince Riku?"

Aerith's voice rang through the dining hall and Riku immediately glanced up, "Yes, Aerith?"

"He's all ready for supper," Aerith smiled, looking very proud of her work as Sora began to slowly step into the room.

Sora was now clad in _real_ human clothes and not some stupid ship sails. A pair of tight fitting black pants sported his lower half and a very comfortable looking long sleeved white shirt that was quite similar to Riku's hugged his upper body. However, he was wearing a dark pink waistcoat that really just _completed_ the outfit to the right extent.

Riku's mouth actually dropped when he saw the boy. He couldn't really believe how tight those pants fit Sora and showed off every single little curve and crevice- it was just perfect.

"You look very pretty," Riku smiled in a gentleman fashion.

Sora flushed a noticeably dark scarlet and nodded his head in thanks.

"Well, I think it's time for supper, my boys," Vexen said, intruding and sliding in between Riku and Sora. "I'll show you to your seat..."

Vexen slowly escorted Sora to the dining table, a huge table that seated about twenty people. Riku sat down at the head of the table, while Vexen pulled out the chair next to Riku and Sora took his seat with a smile.

Examining the objects on the table surface, Sora saw several things in front of him. A large round white plate with fancy golden embroidery going along the inside. Next to that was a mauve cloth napkin, a spoon, a knife and...the dinglehopper!

Sora smiled brightly and took the dinglehopper, which was actually a fork, and placed it at his chocolate brown spikes and began combing himself with it immediately. Sora acted so smart as he grinned and pushed the fork through his hair with ease. He opened his blue eyes to see what Riku and Vexen were thinking of his smart thinking of using the dinglehopper only to see that they were both staring at him with wide, perplexed eyes.

Sora blinked and blushed darkly. He embarrassingly placed the fork back in it's original place and stared down at his lap, feeling like a total fool while Riku and Vexen forgot about Sora's otherwise foolish act with the fork.

"Well, it seems there's going to be a few minutes before the food comes out, so I think I'll have a smoke," Vexen thought aloud as he reached inside his navy blue jacket to remove...the snarfblatt!

Sora's eyes glimmered brightly as he saw the snarfblatt which was really a smoking pipe and wished quite a bit to see Vexen's pipe up close. Vexen caught sight of Sora's excited look and pulled away his already lit pipe and handed it slowly to Sora, "You seem pretty interested in it. It's got some worth to it, brought down by the-"

_Fwoosh!_

Within half a second, Sora had blown right into the pipe and sent black all over Vexen. The blond stared blankly forward with a look of total disgust on his face while Riku snorted with laughter.

Realizing he had done something foolish again, Sora hurriedly slid the pipe back towards Vexen across the table and looked away.

"Sorry 'bout that, Vexen," giggled Riku behind a hand.

"Oh, Prince Riku, that has got to be the first time I've seen you smile in ages," Aerith said as she emerged from the kitchen holding a large tray with three silver platters with silver domes.

Sora smiled widely when he heard this, his heart fluttering when he realized that he was actually the cause of Riku's smile and laughter.

"So here's your dinner, dearies," smiled Aerith as she began placing all the plates around in front of each specific male. "It's Luxord's specialty, samon stew."

"Mmmhm, delicious!" Vexen smiled delightedly as he pulled off the silver dome and went for his spoon. "Don't hesitate to dig in, Riku, it's your favorite, after all."

Vexen glanced up to Riku but noticed the silverhead was staring at Sora with a look of passion and need for the brunette. Sora was looking at Riku the same way, smiling a bit wider than the silver-haired prince was but still just as lovesick.

"O-Oh, what, Vexen?" Riku asked, tearing his eyes away from Sora to look at Vexen. "Didn't hear you."

"You know what would be a really splendid idea?" Vexen suddenly asked as he dipped his spoon into his stew. "You should take him out into the town tomorrow, give him a view of the country side, you know, away from the ocean and all..."

"What a great idea, Vexen," smiled Riku. "Does that sound good to you?"

Sora instantly nodded his head, blue eyes big and excited.

"Great! Sunrise we'll go into town and have some fun," smiled Riku. "Maybe afterwards we could go for a boat ride on the lake?"

Sora nodded enthusiastically, absolutely loving the idea of spending a whole day _alone_ with Riku- the perfect opportune moment to get to kiss Riku! Sora felt his heart flutter happily as he finally focused on his dinner and tasted something he never thought he'd taste such as another fish...

Evening arrived before Sora knew it. Aerith had given Sora one of the many guest rooms in Riku's palace, a very beautiful and cosy guest room with a big bed with sky blue sheets and pillows you could disappear in. However, the first moment Sora had stepped into it after changing into his night clothes, he immediately heard a shuffling noise coming from underneath the queen sized bed.

Sora blinked and tilted his head to the side.

"S-Sora? Is that you?"

Sora dropped down onto his knees and lifted up the white dust ruffle to clearly see no other than Axel laying on his back and looking very flustered.

"Oh, thank god..."

Axel scrambled out from underneath the bed and panted a bit from moving so much. The redhead was still wearing the sail from before - Sora would be sure to get some more clothes from Aerith to give to Axel. The redhead pushed a hand through his fiery red hair and sighed deeply.

"You have no idea what I've been through," groaned Axel. "I had to sneak into the palace while wearing _this_ piece of work right here-" Axel gestured to the sail around his midsection which was slowly slipping down. "-and barely missed being caught by a deranged and psychopathic chef that slaughters up poor fish and cooks them and what not! Nearly made me vomit, it was so horrible! And then I had to figure out which room you'd be staying in, so I followed the lady wearing pink who was changing...bed sheets? And she nearly spotted me twice, _twice_, Sora!"

Axel blinked in surprise when he realized Sora had flopped down onto the cushiony bed and was nuzzling the pillows with a big smile on his face.

Axel sighed gloomily, "I heard. You're going out tomorrow with Riku, right? Listen, Sora, don't fall asleep yet! You have got to get him to kiss you tomorrow, so try your hardest to look...provocative and, seductive, and make your lips just look kissable!"

Sora wasn't listening. He was already in a deep sleep, curled up a bit while holding the pillows and looking just so comfortable and as happy as he could be. Axel sighed and shrugged, smiling a bit when he saw just how happy Sora looked. Axel hadn't seen Sora this happy in the longest time and it made Axel very happy as well to see Sora so happy, since everything under the sea had practically been ruined by Xemnas.

"Sora, you're hopeless," Axel chuckled. Axel dropped down onto his knees again and lifted up the dust ruffle to scurry up under the bed - there was just enough room for him to lay on his back and get comfortable against the carpeted floor. However, his bare feet were sticking out from underneath the dust ruffle.

Soon enough both males were in a deep slumber, cautiously and excitedly awaiting the next day...

It was dark in the ocean that night, and all of Xemnas's soldiers, every fish, every sea creature and mermaid alike were in a frantic search to find Sora. Xemnas was sitting in his throne with a miserable look of great discontent on his face, orange eyes looking up when he caught sight of no other than Demyx return panting a bit.

"Did you find him?" Xemnas asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry, your majesty, we've been searching everywhere for Sora," replied Demyx, his seahorse tail flitting about. "We just cannot find Sora..."

"Keep looking," ordered Xemnas sternly. "I don't want anyone to rest, sleep or do anything else other than search for Sora. Look everywhere! We will find him!"

Demyx swallowed and sighed, slowly nodding his head, "Yes, sire..." And then he slowly swam away back into the darkness of the sea to tell orders to the other sea life in search of Sora.

Xemnas pressed a palm to his face in shame, "Damnit... Why did I have to do that...? What have I done?"


End file.
